


The changes which are forced upon us

by Some_Rando_on_the_Bus



Category: Infinity Train (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Angst, Blood Drinking, Blood and Violence, Both Simon and Grace are still terrible people, But they get better, Character Growth, Character Turned Into Vampire, Dubious Morality, Everyone Has Issues, F/M, Grace also has issues, Human/Vampire Relationship, Idiots in Love, Mental Breakdown, Mental Instability, Minor Character Death, Murder, Redemption, Simon has issues, Slow Burn, Temporarily Unrequited Love, Trauma, Unrequited Crush, Vampire Hunters, cuz these two are both terrible at emotions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:27:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 39,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26346352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Some_Rando_on_the_Bus/pseuds/Some_Rando_on_the_Bus
Summary: Hunting was all Grace and Simon knew, it was their life's work to rid the earth of those foul monsters who pretended they were people. After over ten years of fighting side-by-side, neither ever wanted anything to change.Unfortunately change has a habit of coming regardless on one's wants, and after a vampire attack leaves Simon changed, Grace struggles to pick up the pieces.
Relationships: Simon Laurent/Grace Monroe
Comments: 89
Kudos: 77





	1. A Mission of Upmost Importance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo... Infinity Train Book Three broke my heart into a million pieces and he is my little attempt to mend it in the only way I know-- writing a pointless vampire AU, hope ya'll enjoy!

Grace was only ten years old when she had her first brush with the bloodsucking creatures she eventually grew to despise.

She didn’t know the details, but she was sure that whatever her mother caught on her latest business trip was not, in fact, a “stomach bug.” 

She only snuck a glimpse of her mother once during the two weeks before her life went up in flames. Laying in bed, her mother’s once dark skin was pale, more pale than Grace though possible. Her eyes were half lidded, hands gripping her sheets in what looked to be pain. And for a split second before she was ushered out by one of her house’s many servants she could have swore that her mother’s eyes had a strange reddish tint to them.

From that night forward it seemed like the servants had been instructed to keep her away from her mother's room, as every time she got too close she found someone standing guard. 

At the start of the second week of no contact with her mom, something even stranger happened. Her father took a week off of work to help care for his wife. Due to how busy he always was and how little time he ever spent with them, Grace was surprised he didn’t just hire someone to provide care. 

Even weirder, after her father started staying home more often, he almost never left her mother's room, and when he did, he was unengaged-- his worries about his wife’s condition almost ever-present on his face. Grace was worried for her mom, of course she was, but she knew better than to ask him any questions.

On the last night she saw her parents, she had been up a little later than usual. Dance practice had gone past its usual time, again, and she was just barely getting home. Normally she would just go to her room, where dinner was probably already waiting for her. However that night she wanted to get herself a little treat. 

Sneaking into the kitchen was not hard, and having already done it many times, she was confident she could get in, grab some much needed sweets, and get out before anyone noticed. But while sneaking some ice pops from the freezer, she was startled by the sound of breaking glass.

Terrified at what that could have been, she immediately sought out the closest person who could reassure her. Most of the servants had gone back to their own homes by now, so before she knew it, she was already running towards her mom’s room.

It was when the shouting started that she forced herself to move even more quickly. 

Once she was within earshot of the room, A voice she knew to be from her father cried out for help as a distinctly British voice she did not recognize snapped at him to stay down. A third voice, one which sounded almost familiar, if it had not come out in a pained growl, filled the hallway leading to her mother’s room.

Grace did not know where she found the bravery to open the door, if it had been bravery at all. But she never forgot what she saw that night. 

Her father was slumped against the far wall, bleeding profusely from the stump which originally led to his left arm. His eyes were glassy and dazed, so much so that even when he turned to look right at her, she wasn’t even sure if he saw anything.

In the foreground were two figures. The first was someone covered head to toe in a gray jumpsuit and dark robe, her light brown hair braided along her back, eyes so single focused they were hard to look at for too long.

The second was a creature, a monster who was looking down at her father's severed arm, still trapped in her claws, before shaking it loose and lunging at this new figure. The creature was proportionally the same size as her mother, and even looked exactly like her. However the long curved claws which protruded from her fingers, rows of sharp teeth framing her mouth curled into a snarl, and red pulsing eyes, the same color as her father’s wound, told a different story-- and Grace was confronted with the thought that whatever this thing was, it was not her mother.

Her entrance had not gone unnoticed and after the first millisecond, all three figures turned to look in her direction. 

But the first to react was her ‘mother.’

Red eyes wide, the monster, quickly, more quickly than Grace could track, appeared in front of her.

At such close distance Grace was able to smell the blood on the monster's breath.

The creature’s deep red eyes bore into her, and for a moment it looked as if it was going to say something. However, before it had the chance to speak whatever foul curse it was going to spew, there was a fleshy tearing sound, and the monster instead let out a wail of pain.

A silver knife, presumably unsheathed by the brown haired woman pushed through the monster’s back so deeply that Grace was able to see the tip of it come out it’s chest.

Its wail soon turned into a more monstrous scream. As the creature fell to the floor, thick black liquid seeping from its chest.

Looking down at the body, Grace thought she’d be in more of a panic at seeing her mother so twisted and bestial. But in that moment she felt nothing but relief fill her. Whatever it was that had worn her mother’s skin, it was gone. 

Turning her attention back upwards, she came face to face with the strange woman who examined her silently.

She wanted to say something, to thank the figure for saving her, however the woman spoke first. 

“We’ll need to burn the body, silver will keep her down temporarily, but fire will keep her from regenerating.” came that same voice Grace had heard earlier, her tone so intense that Grace felt she had no choice but to listen.

She wasn’t sure what regenerating meant, but it did not sound like a good thing. Whatever this strange woman had to do to keep the monster down, she was not about to stand in her way.

The next hour passed so quickly Grace felt she had no time for words. The cloaked figure had found some gasoline and began to coat the body. Grace had rushed to her father to see if he was alright, but by the time she reached him, his breathing was so shallow and body so racked with tremors that it only took a minute to stop moving entirely. 

When her savior coated him in fluid as well, Grace didn’t have the heart to stop her. 

“What happened to my mom?” she remembered asking the woman, as they watched the bodies burn.

The stranger did not bother to look directly at her when answering. “She went feral.”

And that was all the figure said before turning away and disappearing into the night, leaving Grace to watch her old life perish before her.

The fire had ended up burning several rooms before the fire department arrived to stop it. By then the woman was long gone, and Grace, was alone.

At the funeral, there were so many extended family members that Grace hadn't even met before offering their condolences and homes for her to move into. 

But Grace knew she wasn’t going anywhere. She didn’t care how nice these people seemed, they were still strangers and all she wanted to do was return to her parents’ house… her house-- and whatever amount of her parents fortune she had to spend to insure that, she was going to. The money her parents left her was frankly ridiculous, not even she knew that they were that rich. Getting emancipated at such a young age was no easy feat, but there was very little she couldn't buy.

Once the repairs were done on the house, she dismissed all but her most essential of staff and began work on what she knew she needed to do. She saw what kind of creatures lurked in the dark, and even better, she knew how to kill them.

Procuring sliver was easy enough, and so was hiring a smith who wouldn't ask any prying questions.

The next step was learning how to hold her own in combat. Her ballet classes had left her spry, agile and flexible, however having seen how fast the creatures could move, she knew she’d need a bit more direction. 

What she wished above all things, was to find the woman who had saved her and train directly from the source. It took her months to finally give up that pipe dream. Whoever the woman was, she covered her tracks well, causing Grace to come to the disappointing conclusion that she might never see her again. So instead she went about hiring self defense teacher after self defense teacher. Her parents had always taught her to ‘learn from the best,’ and so it was only the ‘best’ she hired, paying top dollar for the most renowned fighters to instruct her, swapping them out when they began to ask too many questions. And as the years counted up so did her skill and determination-- as well as her own unique fighting style, created from the collections of different martial arts she had picked up.

She was thirteen years old when she decided that she was ready for her first real hunt. In hindsight, she came to realize how unprepared she truly was, however it was hard to regret going out that night, considering it was on that trip that she had met him.

Once she had arrived at her destination and entered the dilapidated building she was sure housed the monster she was searching for, she was met with the unexpected cacophony of aggressive various growls in two distinct voices. There seemed to be a fight already afoot, and from the sounds of it, neither party was human.

Bringing her body close to the ground, she silently bounded towards the fight. If two monsters were already fighting than her night would be much simpler as all she would need to do was take down the injured victor.

They were not hard to find. Down past the hall and up several flights of stairs was a room where the door was knocked cleanly off its hinges, small trails of dark inky liquid dotted the precipice. Before she could even peer into the room, the house was shook by a figure being thrown against the wall and into Grace’s view.

It’s nails were long and bloody, fangs out on full display, red eyes so bright they seemed to almost glow. It was thrown with such force that the wall it impacted caved in. it looked to be a man, tall and imposing. Grace, even with all of her preparation was momentarily stunned when he came into view. Luckily for her the man seemed far more distracted with what threw him, quickly getting up and lunging towards presumably the other combatant. 

Gathering up her courage once more she tiptoed into the room, finally getting a full view of the conflict.

The man who was thrown was back at it, clawing away at a woman. This woman’s gaze was golden instead of red, but from her similar fangs and claws Grace guessed she was the same kind of monster as the other. She was bleeding black from various cuts which decorated her body. She looked in bad shape, and yet remained crouched in a protective stance in front of a third figure, one Grace was entirely shocked to see.

He was a young boy, no older than Grace herself, and he looked terrified at the fight that was breaking out in front of him. His grey eyes were puffy and shiny with tears, golden locks stuck to the wetness of his cheek as he cowered behind the female monster, clutching at the red of a bleeding shoulder wound.

Red blood, normal eyes-- it did not take Grace long to realize that this boy was a human. 

Human and right in the middle of a monster fight.

It was the boy that first realized she was there. When he met her eyes he wasted no time screaming for her to get out.

This momentarily diverted the attention of both creatures as they turned to look at her, fangs still barred. And in that moment Grace came to the frantic realization that if both of them attacked her, she wouldn't be able to defend.

The male creature, who was still the closest to her, smirked before addressing the female monster.

“Samantha~” he purred, straightening his posture to turn and stare at the new arrival. “I didn’t know you collected another brat, a big oversight on your part to leave her by herself.” He looked triumphant, like he expected the other to give up now that Grace had entered the room

If the man expected this ‘Samantha’ to back down he was sorely mistaken as instead of bothering herself with the current situation, she looked around for the nearest window and gestured at it meaningfully to the human boy.

The boy on the other hand shook his head furiously, and looked as if he were about to protest. However the monster seemed like she had already made her decision as she gestured for him to follow before throwing herself at the window, breaking it with a loud crash and falling down into the night. 

The blonde boy ran after her, but as soon as she jumped down from the fifth story window, he scooted to a halt right before the drop.

“Samantha!” he screamed. “I can’t jump down that far!”

From where Grace was she couldn’t exactly make out the response, but it sounded like this ‘Samantha’ told him that she would catch him.

Still clutching his bleeding arm he cried for her to please come back, that he couldn’t jump, that he was too scared. As he continued to beg it became increasingly obvious to Grace that Samantha was not coming back.

At the scene in front of him the remaining monster broke out in a boisterous laughter.

“Samantha is as much of a coward as ever it seems.” he proclaimed, turning his attention back to the blonde boy. “Did you actually think that she would risk her life for yours?”

Seeming to take great pleasure in the absolute terror in the boy’s eyes, the man turned back to him and began to approach the blonde with a certain twisted glee.

Now faced away from Grace, she knew he had just made a fatal mistake. He was confident that she was not a threat, so much so he left himself totally exposed to her knife.

She was on him quickly, and while he struggled, it only took three stabs from her silver dagger to send him careening to the floor. Grace knew not how many times she needed to plunge her weapon in to render him unconscious, so she did not stop stabbing, even long after he fell to the floor unmoving.

And she would have kept stabbing if not for the soft voice which squeaked from the other side of the room, reminding her she was not alone. 

“Is… is he dead?”

Brought back to herself all in one moment, she finally stopped her hands, bloodied black, from bringing the weapon back into the monster’s flesh. Quickly pushing herself off the body she stood up and looked back at the boy.

He had retreated back to the far corner of the room, examining her, fear still flashing in his eyes. 

Letting her silver knife fall to her side with a clatter she breathed out a sigh of relief before answering.

“Not yet.” 

The boy also stood to his shaky legs, and took a couple hesitant steps towards her. “You.” he let out in nearly a whisper. “You saved me.”

Trying her best to bring the brightest smile she could to her face, she reached out her hand. “Yeah, it was no biggie. Name’s Grace, what’s yours?”

The boy looked down at her hand, still dripping with the thick black goo from the unconscious man before hesitantly reaching out to take it.

“S..Simon, my name is Simon.”

Burning up the body was the easy part, what was much harder was figuring out what to do with the boy.

From what she gathered after questioning him, he was somehow being cared for by the monster he referred to as Samantha. He had been with her for a few months after she found him scrounging for food in an alley. Grace was eager to ask him questions about how he survived so long living with such a monster, however when she pressed too deeply about that Samantha of his, he would break out into tears, crying about how she left him.

It was only after Grace pulled him into a hug that he managed to stop. 

“I’m sorry you had to go through that. Those monsters... can be tricky," she whispered thinking of the one who impersonated her mom. "Who knows what would have happened if you stayed with her. She may have been saving you to eat later... but you’re okay now, no one is going to hurt you.”

Burying his face in her shoulder he sniffled. “Everyone leaves me; my parents, Samantha… are you going to leave me too?” 

Gripping him tighter the promise came from her mouth with surprising ease. 

“No,” she stated matter-of-factly. “I promise I won’t leave you.”

Bringing Simon back to live with her ended up being easier than she initially foresaw. Having a couple of her staff look into the boy, they found very little on him aside from his age-- thirteen, the same age as Grace. Aside from a birth certificate, It seemed that there were almost no records of him even existing. Both of his parents were deceased and based on his own testimony he had been living on the streets before Samantha found him.

It was easy enough to have one of her most trusted servants legally adopt him, as he had no other family willing to claim him.

When he officially moved into her mansion, she made sure to put his new room right next to hers, in case he needed anything.

As he was already familiar with the monsters Grace hunted, it made him an easy person to talk to about all of her training. Having lived with one of the creatures he even had insight into how they worked that Grace did not. 

He explained to her that the monsters she had been referring to as just creatures, had another name-- vampires. Samantha had told him much of her people, how those born vampires had the ability to change normal humans into vampires as well. How all vampires regardless of origin, needed to drink human blood to survive.

All of his information proved incredibly useful for Grace and she always made sure to really pay attention whenever Simon was in the mood to talk about it. When he offered to write her up an essay of what he knew, she quickly took him up on it-- surprised that a kid with no record of formal education even knew how to write and essay, let alone would be eager to do it. As the weeks turned to months he became more forward with her about his experiences and more dedicated to his, as titled it, “Vampire hunting textbook.”

Eventually he even asked to join her on her crusade against the vampires.

“Are you sure Simon?” She asked him. “If you join me then they will all become your enemy, even Samantha.” 

Grace knew that would be a tough pill to swallow and the reason she had not suggested for him to join herself. Although she knew how dangerous this Samantha truly was, she didn't know exactly what Simon thought of her-- he was always touchy with that particular subject.

But to her surprise the blonde boy met her gaze with an intensity unmatched before replying. “She left me to die. You’re right Grace, they are all monsters… I’m just… so glad I got to meet you, so I want to help!”

She was ecstatic! She adored Simon’s company, and having an ally in her personal war would make things much easier. As a thrilled smile spread across her face, she pulled the boy into one of her bear hugs, which had long since become standard practice when she was overjoyed with him.

“I’m glad I got to meet you too!” she exclaimed. “And I’m so excited! We are going to be such a great team.” pulling back she saw him flush with embarrassment and giggled. “ I suppose I’ll need to train you though.”

And that was that. A few days later she started showing Simon what she knew. Whenever Grace found another young or weak vampire to practice on, he always came with to watch and learn.

It was about a year before he felt ready to try and take one on his own,

It was about two years before he successfully did so,

And it was about two years after that Grace finally felt that she had an equal in combat.

When they fought side by side, it was magic. Having trained so long with each other, they grew to anticipate each and every move the other would make in combat and just how to support and build on it. And although they made a great two person unit, it did not surprise her when Simon suggested that perhaps they should start recruiting in order to diversify the types of battles they picked.

The formation of The Apex was, at first, a complete accident. By virtue of their work they would sometimes encounter another human who knew or was in the process of learning about vampires. 

Sometimes these humans were very hostile to their efforts, claiming the vampire they were with were no threat, or even worse that they cared for them-- which Grace rationalized to clearly be a deception on the part of the vampire. Those humans were always a hassle as they needed to be separated before Grace and Simon could take care of the monster pulling the strings. 

However other times, these humans were curious and even accepting of their reasoning, and often, if they survived the encounter, they would be motivated to help the pair in some way. 

It was only a matter of time they encountered someone like that who could also fight. And not long after that Simon made his recruitment suggestion, something that was easy enough for Grace, as with her finances she was able to arm an army.

As her army grew, Grace discovered that she was actually quite good at recruitment-- when she needed to, she was so easily able to empathize with these people, tell them exactly what she knew they needed to hear, and exactly what would make them most amiable to joining.

By the time they had both turned eighteen, The Apex, as Grace came to call their hunting organization, was already twelve strong and with such numbers they were finally able to take on much larger nests. As their number grew so did their reputation among those they hunted. Soon even the mere sight of the Apex’s red wave face paint was enough to strike fear. 

And no two members of the were more infamous than head of the Apex, Grace Monroe, and her second in command, Simon Laurent. It had started to become increasingly common that during a hunt, their prey would recognize them and try to run, or beg, or hide.

Simon was always less than enthused whenever this happened. When a vampire they encountered refused to fight them, it would enrage him more than almost anything else. 

“How dare they pretend that they're the victims!” he seethed to Grace in a huff after dealing the finishing blow to a vampire who was huddled away from them in fear, “They are monsters, not people, no matter what they say, no matter how they act.”

Of course Grace agreed with him, however sometimes she wished he would just lighten up a bit.

As annoying as it could be when they begged, she took those pleas as signs of her strength. For a monster as dangerous as a vampire to beg meant she had successfully risen to what she dreamed of for so long-- a true hunter, a true advocate for humanity.

For her part Grace had always tried to show him the upsides of going with the flow, but Simon was prone to take everything quite seriously. With the rest of the Apex he donned the persona of a strong and tactical leader, and with Grace, occasionally that behavior would bleed over. Sometimes it was funny to watch him play strong general man-- but often times it was exhausting.

However for every negative habit her partner had, there were almost numerous things he did right.

He was dedicated to her cause, spending countless hours planning their raids and recording every maneuver they mastered into an enchiridion of vampire hunting knowledge to instruct the rest of the Apex with. He was instrumental to the formation of their hunting guild, as while Grace was able to entice new members easily with her openness and charisma, it was Simon who vetted each new member. It was Simon who found out what their skill sets were and assigned them to teams and raiding parties which matched their skill level. He was sweet, when he wanted to be, always going out of his way to accommodate Grace’s every need. On the battlefield he took orders well and never questioned her decisions. But most of all he had saved her from spending the rest of her life isolated in her cause, and for that, she was eternally grateful.

It was hard living the life she chose, throughout her time as a vampire hunter she had made some really hard decisions. Many looked up to her as a teacher, a leader, model of her craft-- but very few cared for her the way Simon cared for her. As the years went by that fact became increasingly harder to deny. Sometimes in her weakest moments she would imagine her and Simon living a normal life-- sometimes as best friends, sometimes as something a bit more. 

It had not escaped her notice that Simon had grown into quite a handsome man over the years. it was not hard to imagine spending a long peaceful life with him. But their lives were too complicated and dangerous for something so wonderful, and she long since came to terms with that fact.

It was easy enough to ignore her own feelings for the blonde-- and considering the amount of times Simon would stare just a bit too long at her lips, or blush whenever they got particularly close, she knew he had come to the same conclusion.

For their mission was more important.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, I will try and update weekly. If this is the first fic of mine you've read, I have a pretty good track record of completing fics once I start them, but if you would like to help speed the process along, please leave a review-- its always great to hear from people and its one heck of a motivator for me to write faster :)


	2. The Birthday Boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon receives an unexpected birthday present

The day Simon turned 21 was the very same day the Apex recruited their hundredth member. 

The morning celebration had gone well, almost every member was there, each with a present in hand for the birthday boy: Lucy had baked a cake, Alex had bought Simon another set of soldiers figurines for his diorama, and most surprisingly Todd arrived with a newly minted harpoon gun, commissioned specifically for Simon.

Everyone’s presents were good, but Grace knew that hers was going to be the best. It was a double whammy-- first, She had intel on a potential new vampire nest. As their numbers had grown the vampire population had notably begun to thin out in their area-- finding a new nest, especially one so close was nothing short of a miracle. It had been months since she and Simon had gone hunting, and she knew he would eagerly jump at the opportunity.

After the morning celebrations with the rest of their hunters came to a close, Grace surprised her partner with the first part of her present. And as predicted, he was so excited he wanted to go that same night. The two of them having a night out would be the perfect time for her to present him with the second part of the gift.

“Simon?” she asked as they both donned their equipment, preparing for a hunt.

“Yeah?” he responded, sheathing a curved blade that had become one of his favorites over the years.

“Would you marry me?” she asked purposefully nonchalantly. When the blonde sputtered predictably in response she bit back a laugh.

“Wha---?!” he started swinging himself around to look at her like she had lost her mind.

Taking a moment to laugh at his incredulity and the growing pink tinge in his face she explained. “Not like that silly! We do some real dangerous work, and there is always a risk that one of us might bite it. And if that ever ends up being me then you’ll be out on your own again. But, if we were married then my assets would be yours as well, and you would be able to continue our work with the money I leave behind.”

Simon shook his head. “Grace...” he started 

“I know, I know,” she interrupted, “You’d feel bad marrying me for my money, but think about it Sandals, it makes a lot of sense. And I’d rather you and the Apex have my money than anyone else.”

The blonde chuckled at the nickname. “You are literally never going to let me live that down are you?” he asked. “I was a boy, how was I supposed to know that socks and sandals don’t mix?” 

Clicking her tongue Grace wagged her finger at him. “That is no excuse and you know it,” she responded playfully, “‘sides it sounds to me like someone is deflecting.”

He started at her, unmoving for a moment before sighing, “It’s really generous of you Grace… I just don’t want to think about you not being here...” he trailed off unable to complete his thought.

“Well, feel free to take your time, it's just a suggestion, maybe our hunt will clear your mind.”

When Simon nodded in agreement, they returned to preparing for their upcoming raid. Grace was pretty sure the nest was a small, maybe only two to four vampires total, it was likely to be an easy hit, which was ideal. Simon was eager to test out his new harpoon gun and it was always better to get a hang of new gear with an easy fight. She too had a new piece of gear she wanted to try out-- a pair of silver handcuffs. Sometimes they needed to question a vamp, usually to gain more leads for other nests, and having a tool that could bind and inflict intense pain at the same time would be helpful.

Packing away her cuffs, the two of them finished their prep-work and went on their way.

After they arrived and did some minor scoping around the abandoned shack that Grace suspected housed the vampires, she was overjoyed to only find two on the premises.

They wasted no time engaging the enemy, however once they were in close quarters Grace noticed something that could have be a problem. The two vampires did not have red eyes,

Instead their eyes were golden, The color of a null-- as coined in Simon’s Apex hunting manual. A vampire who was a monster from birth, a creature who was never a person. They were much rarer than their red eyed counterpart as well as harder to kill and quicker to flee. 

Once they were engaged, the two nulls behaved in quite a typical and expected way. The larger one told the younger one to run while it held them off, yada yada yada, Grace had seen this same scene many a time. 

The little one ran, and Grace allowed it: it was never as fun or rewarding to hunt children, even if they were monsters. After the little one fled from one of the windows, together the pair faced off against the larger one. 

The vampire was huge, packed quite a punch, and was much, much more agile than Grace expected for its size. It was a formidable foe, and Grace quickly realized they would have to put up an actual fight, which unfortunately meant there was no time to try out their new gear. 

While Grce did manage to get a few scratches here and there, the null was no match for her and Simon’s years of training as a pair.

They twirled through the battlefield in partnered dance, covering each other's blind spots and weak points. Their movements, graceful and dangerous as they cut, dealing critical blow after critical blow. 

“So,” Simon began after plunging his curved silver dagger into the Null’s leg. “I’ve been thinking about your proposal.”

Grace, just ducking from a clawed blow that just barely missed her, replied. “Yeah? Have you decided to take me up on it?”

Twisting the knife deeper he chuckled. “Confident I’m going to say yes, aren’t you?”

She responded with a laugh of her own as she roundhouse kicked the vampire directly in its face while it was still reeling from the knife wound, knocking it to the floor. “Well, duh, I am the best. Of course you are going to say yes.”

“Well, you certainly got me there….” holding his breath he pulled the dagger from its leg and plunged it directly into its neck. After the beast stopped moving, he stood back up and faced Grace. “And yeah, I suppose I am agreeing.” he finished flushing a familiar pink.

Grace smiled and quickly scanned around to see if there were any other vampires roaming about. After a short glance she felt they were safe enough.

Turning back to look at her partner she was confronted with quite the sight, Simon, being his every so endearing paradoxical self. While he held his weapon with the casualness of a true warrior, his hunting gear coated in the blood of their enemy, he had also returned to the shy almost meek posture he tended in whenever she was alone with him. The dissonance was the most adorable thing Grace had seen all day.

“Ha! well if we're doing this, then I suppose we’ll need to do it right!” she announced before taking a couple steps towards her partner and getting down on one knee, digging through her pockets, she found what she had been keeping on her for just this moment, a simple silver ring.

“Simon Laurent, would you do the honor of joining me in holy matrimony and yada yada yada,”

“You had a ring ready to go and everything?”

“Pff of course I did, now are you going to put it on? If it’s not to your liking, I have another band that might work.” she responded playfully gesturing to the silver handcuffs still clipped to her belt.

Laughing he reached out to take the ring before slipping it on his finger. Taking a moment to admire it he looked down at Grace. “Okay I’ll take the ring…. but, I get to keep my last name.” 

Joining in the laughter, she rose from her feet and brought him into a hug so tight and strong, she ended up lifting him a couple inches from the ground swinging him slightly before putting him down.

Resting her chin on his shoulder, a content sigh passed his lips as she took a moment to just listen to his heartbeat, a moment that came to a sudden end when her now fiance, abruptly jerked away to refocus his gaze on something directly behind her.

His reaction was quick; before Grace could even ask what was happening, he grabbed onto her shoulders and roughly pushed her to the side.

Grace went tumbling away from Simon as she just barely looked up in time to see the small null she previously thought had already run from the fight crash into him with such force that both he and the monster went careening into the far wall.

Simon hit the cinder blocks with such a massive thud that Grace was sure he must have broken something.

From what she could see, the impact nearly knocked him out as he sluggishly struggled against the vampire.

“How could YOU!” the monster screamed, bringing down sharp claws to tear at her now fiance’s exposed flesh. He cried out in pain as he failed to escape it’s grasp before it continued. “YOU KILLED HER... how could you!”

Grace, still recovering, reached for the harpoon gun Simon dropped when they had embraced, loading it as fast as she could. Through her panic she could still hear Simon speak

“You’re all monsters.” he spat with such delirious fury. “Death is what you deserve!”

A sad almost desperate huff came from the vampire. “Then I know what you deserve,” it seethed before lowering its fangs to his neck.

Simon let out a scream so loud and pained Grace nearly couldn’t believe it was him. She had patched him up many a time after their hunts, but never in her life had she heard him scream in such agony.

Finally aiming her weapon she fired it, only to miss the vampire entirely. Cursing she loaded up another harpoon, this time piercing the null’s shoulder. 

The creature almost immediately ripped herself from Simon, howling in pain before bounding off of him, and out a nearby window.

Grace so desperately wanted to chase after it, but Simon came first, and she couldn't just leave him alone bleeding in a dilapidated building.

Rushing to his side she finally got a good look at the blonde’s condition. His slack face was still, the blood puddle that was expanding beneath him was starting to reach a troubling size. Taking several moments to scan the perimeter to make sure the smaller vampire wasn’t going to return, Grace finally turned back to more closely examine her partner’s bite wound.

It was messy, blood smeared over most of the flesh in a way that was hard to assess how deep the wound was. Both she and Simon had their fair share of bite wounds, came with the territory of hunting vampires, but this once was particularly nasty. It wasn’t neat and looked as if the vamp didn’t even bothered with drinking him, instead choosing to tear into him with as much ferocity as it could.

Grace was almost too scared to check for a pulse, almost. Hands gently caressing her partner’s face, they moved down to the side of his unmarred neck. When she felt the first pulse, she nearly jumped for joy.

He was alive! His wounds were bad but he was still alive. Quickly ripping off a piece of his pant leg, she wrapped it around his neck, hoping to stop the bleeding. But as the cloth began to soak through she felt tears welling up in her eyes.

Bringing her head down to his chest she wondered if this was how it was going to end. And how if it were, it was completely her fault. She was the one who distracted him with her proposal, and she was going to be the one responsible for his demise.

Through her tears she almost didn’t notice the hand which slowly reach up to gripped onto her arm.

Startled she looked down to find Simon smiling, the corners of his mouth dotted with the red of his own blood.

“H..hey Grace.” he whispered before breaking out into a cough. She tried to tell him to keep quiet, to not strain himself, but he didn’t seem to listen. Instead doing the exact opposite and trying to lift himself up from the floor.

“Simon you idiot! stay down... you’re really hurt!”

Pushing himself into a sitting position, his right hand instantly went to his neck. He barely touched it before hissing in pain. “Oww,” he complained in a voice Grace felt was too casual for the current situation. “Damn that hurts, but I’m glad you’re okay.”

She looked at him incredulously as he moved to get himself to his feet. “Glad, I’m okay? I only got a few scrapes... Simon, you nearly died!” 

Looking down he finally seemed to notice the pool of red blood beneath them. “Wow... that all came from me?

Grace, standing to her feet as well, gave him a concerned look. “You lost a lot of blood, are you feeling alright?”

Simon frowned, “Yeah, actually I feel fine. Really tried, but all things considered, fine.”

If she was not so incredibly grateful that somehow Simon both survived that assault and was able to stand on his own, she would have noticed the thin trail of blood which was leaking from his bandages had stopped. 

“Huh? Well, praise adrenaline I suppose. Let’s get you home and treat that wound before it gets infected. It looks like it’s going to need some stitches” 

The blonde nodded before gesturing for her to lead the way.

Grace tried her best to walk slowly, and even offered for Simon to lean on her shoulder as they moved out. However strangely he seemed to need no help, bounding out of the building with pip in his step. It was only after they reached the outside that he stopped for a moment, looking up at the night sky above them. 

“There are so many stars out tonight!” he breathed a smile decorating his features. He continued to gaze incredulously, as if he were seeing the sky for the very first time.

Grace chuckled, “No more than usual Sandals, you sure you feeling alright?”

Turning to look back at his fiance it seemed as if he was about to retort with a witty response, but once his eyes landed on her whatever he was going to say died in his mouth. He stared at her breathlessly, and as if in a trance reached up to her cheek to wipe away some of the black blood splatters on her face.

It wasn't out of the ordinary for Simon to touch her like this, they had always been very touchy-feely with each other, but something about the focus he was directly her way made the pit of her stomach turn in the most glorious of ways.

“Someone is a bit handsy today huh?” she teased.

As if her words shook him out of a haze, he quickly pulled away, regaining his bearings before saying. “Ah, sorry Grace. Guess the blood loss is getting to me.”

Grace chuckled, “You know I don’t mind, but let's get you home before you get any other ideas birthday boy.” Winking playfully and looping one of her arms around his, she led him back in the direction of her parked car.

He sputtered at the accusation, trying his best to keep a blush down while following her lead.

The ride home was uneventful, Grace concentrating on the road while Simon watched the scenery pass them by. When they arrived back to the mansion Simon announced with a yawn that he wanted to go to sleep.

“Ah ah ah, not so fast,” Grace chided while they entered the front. “We need to clean your wound and stitch it up first.”

Simon sighed before nodding-- seeing his obvious reluctance, Grace’s features softened. She knew he was not the biggest fan of stitches. 

Reaching out to hold his hand, she conceded. “Oh alright, I need to go get some actual bandages and antiseptic first anyways, so why don’t you lay down and take a small nap and I’ll wake you up when I’m ready.”

He thanked her profusely before settling down on one of the couches in the main room. Normally Grace would have lectured him for sitting on her nice couch with such a deep wound, but money could buy her another couch and in that moment she was more concerned with his comfort than anything else. 

It took nearly fifteen minutes to find everything she was looking for and when she returned she found him lightly snoring on the couch. Appreciating this small moment before waking him she took a second to look over her sleeping fiance. 

Curled up into a ball, he looked so peaceful. Golden lashes moving ever so slightly as he dreamed, blonde hair tied in his usual ponytail. He was pale, much more than usual, probably from the blood loss. 

She was so grateful that he was still alive, more than she could ever have possibly expressed. He was her best friend and the one person in the world who really truly understood her-- almost losing him was like almost losing a part of herself. Promising to never put him into another situation like that, she turned her attention back to his wrapped neck.

Deciding to just take a preliminary look at the wound again before getting him up-- she took a pair of sterilized scissors, and carefully cut away at the cloth around his neck, hoping beyond hope that it wasn’t as bad as when she first saw it. 

What she found beneath however was much worse.

Smooth pale flesh lay there unmarred by any puncturing. Aside from the bloody makeshift bandage that was pressed to injury she sure she saw, there was no evidence of any bite. 

She gasped, jerking her hand away so quickly the rest of her body followed, losing her balance she fell to the floor in a seated position, knocking over a few of the tools she prepared. 

The various clattering, alerted the sleeping blonde, his brows knit at the sound and his eyes darted open to look directly at Grace in confusion.

“Grace?” he asked, words still a little slurred from his sleep. “Huh, what’s--?” he began before being stopped by the look of pure horror dawning on his fiance’s face as she looked directly into his eyes.

Red,

Crimson red eyes, a far cry from their usual grey stared back at her, and when Simon opened his mouth to say her name once more she even noticed the flash of something sharp between his lips.

She was frozen, so stunned by what she was seeing she couldn’t move. Despite the ever present possibility of being turned, she had never before lost someone to vampirism. Most human made vampires were convinced to join the nulls before they were changed, and Grace supposed that whatever the turning process entailed it was not particularly advantageous to try in the middle of combat. Over the years she had grown complacent in that fear, never really expecting any of her hunters to have to deal with it, 

Much less Simon. 

Half expecting him to lunge at her, she lifted her arms to brace for an assault. However when instead Simon just looked at her with puzzled eyes, stood to his feet, and approached her in his usual meek manner she came to a frightening realization,

He was still unaware of what horrific transformation he was undergoing.

Her mind was going a mile a minute, and with every step he took more and more questions flooded her mind 

She thought that the second someone became a vampire, they’d lose everything that used to make them, well them. But seeing Simon, worry so present in his approach, caused her to second guess herself. 

Was he still in there? Or was this all and act? Perhaps the change took a while to claim the mind’s of its victim? It was a possibility for she had never seen the process take place in full. Did that mean she still had at least some time with Simon before he became unrecognizable to her?

Once he finally got within her breathing room, he knelt down and tried to put on a reassuring smile. 

“Hey now,” he whispered, his words tilted upward with forced levity, probably in hope to reassure his partner, “My wound can’t be that bad right?” 

Taking a deep breath, Grace finally found her words. “Simon… you… how, do you feel?”

He frowned, pursing his lips together tightly. “I don’t know, a little hungry I suppose.”

“A little hungry…” Grace repeated slowly and carefully. 

“Yeah, and itchy?” he responded while his right hand idly reached to scratch his left.

Grace’s eyes immediately followed to find him scratching at where his ring was touching his finger, 

The ring she had given him to mark their engagement.

The silver ring

While Simon seemed to not notice the cause of the irritation himself, she was unsurprised to find the flesh beneath the silver growing slightly irritated. And yet despite whatever discomfort it was causing him in this new state, he did not take it off. Staring at that finger she was confronted with so many emotions at once.

Dread, at what this meant for the blonde, how he would react when she brought it to his attention.

Fear, that at any moment he would lose himself and pounce on her.

Sorrow, that she was the one that let this happen to him.

And most surprising of all, relief, that despite everything, despite whatever was going to happen next, Simon, her Simon seemed to still be with her, at least in this moment.

“Did..” Simon began, a painted look forming on his face, “Did I do something wrong?”

And at that, the dam finally broke inside Grace, tears began to flow from her eyes. She was right, this man in front of her was still the Simon she cared for so much-- regardless of whatever else he was, first and foremost he was her best friend, her hunting partner, her fiance. Despite his change, despite what was done to him, what she had done to him-- he was still most worried about her.

Next to her Simon looked so distraught, and clearly still in the dark about the source of her tears. Wanting nothing more than for him to stop looking at her that way, she quickly threw her arms around him, pulling him into a hug. She normally wouldn’t allow a vampire to be so close to her, but in that moment she knew he wouldn't try anything

Clearly shocked, Simon hesitantly returned her embrace. 

Leaning her forehead onto his shoulder, she continued to weep. Pressed up to him, chest to chest, she began to count his breaths. 

In and out 

In and out 

In and out

With time she eventually stopped crying, closing her eyes, she tried her best to formulate her next steps. Would she eventually have to kill him? She knew what vampirism did to people, brief thoughts of her mother gripping the severed arm of her father crossed her mind.

Maybe he was different, maybe he could learn how to control himself? 

She wanted to have hope, to believe that everything was going to be alright, but deep down she feared what this would eventually come to. Considering how he still seemed to have all of his faculties, perhaps her theory on the change taking a while to fully grab hold of someone had some validity to it.

She had time-- and while she had no idea how much time, she knew that in this moment all she wanted to do was grip him tightly and never let go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright chapter two is done, I'm thinking this fic is going to be 5-7 chapters long in total, we'll see how it goes :)
> 
> Please please please leave a review, it's always great hearing from readers.


	3. Promises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon struggles with his new reality while Grace tries to keep them both safe and alive.

Simon looked deeply into his reflection-- crimson eyes stared back. When he leaned in and opened his mouth slightly, the quick glance he got of his new sharper teeth made him immediately recoil in revulsion. From just over his shoulder he could see a reflected Grace looking him over. Despite her reassuring faracade he could still sense clear hesitancy in her stance.

And to be honest he couldn’t blame her.

When Grace had finally pulled out of their hug and gestured for him to follow her into one of the downstairs bathrooms he wasn’t sure what he expected, but it wasn’t this. He was unsure of how long it took him to regain his ability to speak after the initial shock of what he was seeing, but when he did finally force the words from his mouth they came out in a near whisper.

“You know we have procedures for this sort of thing.” he breathed, only capable of meeting her eyes through her reflection.

If Grace knew the exact rule he was referring to she did not let on, instead raising her eyebrow at his statement.

“We do,” he continued, his voice becoming slightly more steady. “According to Section 42 of the Second Volume of Recorded Apex Regulations; ‘Should a member of the Apex become corrupted by the enemy, they should be terminated to prevent further harm to the unit.’”

Grace crossed her arms, her lips slowly shifting into a frown. “Don’t be so hasty-- we don’t know exactly what we're dealing with, we’ve never seen this change up close. Maybe we have some time before you fully turn.”

“Whatever the process is, we know how it ends,” he replied, distaste clear in his tone. After a short pause he finally gathered the gall to turn around and look at Grace directly. “Look at me Grace, if you met me on the battlefield, you wouldn’t even hesitate.”

“If” she emphasized, “Key word, if, but that isn’t what’s happening here.”

Simon knew how stubborn his curly haired fiance could be-- how once she set her mind to something it was near impossible to convince her otherwise. When it came to decisive action as official leader and top hunter of the Apex, her steadfast attitude was among her best traits-- but in personal matters such as these, her inability to back down frequently became an issue.

Frustration building in the back of his throat, he clenched his hands-- sharp nails began to bite into the skin of his palms, only for it to heal over within moments.

And he hated it.

He knew something was wrong with him from the moment Grace rescued him from the null. Everything was just so much, for lack of a better word...crisper, than before. At first he thought it was just blood loss, but now confronted with the reality of his situation, it was hard not to notice how different he felt.

He had been in this bathroom numerous times, but never in his many years living with Grace had he ever noticed the slight curvature of the sink counter, or the intricacies in the design of the rug beneath him. It was as if the world was so much clearer to him.

And then there was Grace. Even from across the room he could feel the warmth emanating from her body-- the sound of her heartbeat-- and the ever so subtle sweet fragrance, which he now realized was coming from the various scrapes she garnered in their earlier fight.

Grace didn’t have the full picture, she only saw the most minor of changes; his eyes, his new teeth. She had no idea how much he wanted to embrace her, to lick at her still coagulating wounds and bite down into that deep umber flesh.

It was disgusting, he was disgusting, a disgusting bloodthirsty monster.

“Grace… you need to kill me.” he stated as matter of factly as he could, “Before I hurt someone.”

The curly haired woman let out an annoyed huff, rolling her eyes, “Stop being so dramatic. You’re not going to hurt anyone. We’ll just keep you in the building away from everyone else for now. Think about it Simon-- this is a good opportunity to record this process. You’re the one who’s always advocating for more educational material for the rest of the Apex, don’t you think this would be helpful down the line?”

“That's not--” he began before being immediately interrupted by his partner chiding him.

“Ah ah ah, no arguing, that’s an order from your superior. For now you seem safe, let's not be so reckless... besides, red looks kind of good on you.” She teased with a smirk while pointing to her eyes.

“This isn’t a joke!” He spat, the edges of his words tinged with a growl so inhuman that it shocked even him.

At the sound, Grace’s face momentarily shifted into something a bit more apprehensive, however it wasn’t long before a more neutral expression returned.

In a tone much more steady and authoritative Grace answered, “I never said that it was.” 

Pushing herself off the far wall she was leaning again, she closed the ten feet of distance between them, despite her previous uncertainty her walk was confident and assertive. “I get you're scared, what you’re going through is scary. But making the best use of the situation we’ve got is the only way forward. Like I said, for now you seem safe, if… that changes, when you cross the line, I’ll stop you. I promise.”

And with that her posture shifted once more. Releasing all of her tension, she smiled.

“So trust me, okay?”

Her eyes bore into his with such determination, he couldn’t help but to nod. With her so close he was almost completely lost in her brown eyes. He had never noticed it before, but she had a small black dot in the lower right corner of her left iris that was so wonderfully odd. Her skin was still coated in flecks of black and red blood starting to crust, right below her right cheekbone there was a small laceration which smelled so, _delectable_. Even though she was technically looking up at him, he felt so small. He had grown taller than her over the years, however she was and continued to be, much more toned and athletic. Her frame held so much power and strength, giving her reassuring words much needed weight. This was nothing new, Grace had always been the commanding optimist, to his flustered pessimist, no matter the odds, she always put him at ease.

He never stood a chance.

“I… Okay.” he whispered hesitantly, unable to disagree.

She beamed at him before placing a hand on his shoulder. “Now that’s settled, lets see what we're working with.” and before Simon could even ask what she meant, her fingers were already pulling at his upper lip, face closer to inspect what lay beneath.

“Hey stop struggling,” she complained, other hand quickly darting out to lay a comforting hand on his arm, stopping his protests.

After some coaxing she managed to convince him to let her see his teeth and he hesitantly complied.

At the same time he opened his mouth, he closed his eyes tight. Of course he wanted to let Grace inspect what she might be up against later, but he also did not want to see the look in her eyes when she saw how drastically he had changed. Surely she would be repulsed at what he was becoming.

However closing his eyes did not stop him from feeling, so when her rough and calloused thumb pressed up against one of his incisors he had to stop himself from shivering.

The pressure was surprisingly nice and he could feel just how warm her finger was. Something deep within him pulled to chasing said warmth, to follow it to its source, so when she began to pull away, almost without thinking, he let out a small disappointed chirp of a sound.

Which caused Grace to break into a fit of laughter. “What was that? You sounded… like a kitten.” she paused for a moment to let out a few more laughs. “It was so adorable. I didn’t know vamps made that kind of sound.”

Simon was sure that if his blood were still red, his face was the shade of a ripe tomato. “I… uh,” he began, wanting to defend himself before realizing he had no defense. “...Didn’t know that either.

“See!” Grace responded, mischief in her eyes, “We’re learning new stuff already.”

At that he couldn’t help but join in on the laughter.

When Grace finally calmed down she straightened out her back and said. “Great, so we know that you have the vampire healing factor and eye color, and from the looks of it a decent set of fangs, but is that all? What about blood?”

This stopped him dead in the middle of a laugh, “Wh..what about it?” 

“Do you want to drink it, duh. You mentioned earlier that you were hungry-- are you hungry for food or for me?” 

That wording almost made Simon choke on nothing. He knew the answer before she even asked the question, but as pride welled up in his chest he dreaded the humiliation it would bring him to admit it.

When it became obvious that he wasn’t going to answer, Grace shrugged before saying, “I guess that means you want blood then. No problem, I don’t mind giving you some.”

Simon froze, searching her face for any sign that she was joking. It took her pressing up directly against him and baring her neck to realize she wasn’t.

“Grace I can’t--”

“Shhh,” she silenced him, “It’s fine, you lost a lot of blood earlier and I’m right here. Don’t worry I still have most of my gear on me if you try anything.”

“Grace I--”

“Simon,” she interrupted again, “you’re going to need to eat at some point, best to do it now, while you're still in your right mind.”

“....”

Wordlessly he gripped her shoulders and pushed her slightly away so he could look her in the eyes once more.

“I understand Grace, but maybe we shouldn’t jump right into neck biting, let me tell you from experience that it hurts like hell, besides… you already have a couple open wounds, no need to injure you any further.”

She stared at him incredulously before asking. “You can tell I’m hurt?”

The air had long since filled with the delicious scent of Grace, it was so thick he could nearly taste it, of course he knew she was injured. 

“You have a couple scrapes on your calves and lower back, but your biggest wound is on your upper back, just below your shoulder blades.” He recited with such sudden comprehension it felt as if he were quoting his procedures. “Oh and you have one here too” he added, gesturing to the place on her cheek where he spotted a cut earlier.

“Well damn, your nose got good.” Grace whistled, “Suppose the one on my back would work best.” and without further prompting Grace began to strip off her upper layers until she was in the tank top she had on underneath, turning her back to him, she exposed the lasheration on her upper back.

While certainly long, it was not very deep, still, a thin trail of blood still seeped from it, and before Simon realized it, he had already lowered his lips to the liquid.

The taste overwhelmed his mouth in a wildfire-- it was pure unadulterated passion, sweet like a summer fruit, but it was also tempered with the rich and deep taste of dedication.

It tasted like Grace, like how he saw her, and he was lost in it. It was so hard to not bite down, and there were several moments he had to stop to regain his bearings before continuing to work the wound.

With slow languid licks he ran his tongue over the expanse of her dark skin, searching for every stray drop. When he found no more, he reluctantly pulled himself away from her warmth-- while he desperately wanted to stay pressed up against her, there was another wound that was so deliciously close.

She didn’t even try to stop him when he shifted around her so that he could gain access to her cheek.

He made sure to be much more delicate with this cut, only taking what was already there and not pressing his tongue to the skin too deeply. One dried line of her blood however trailed further down from her cheek and while following it he came into contact with the edge of her lips.

Parting her lips, she gasped lightly and the sound echoed endlessly in his head. The feeling of Grace pressed into every once of his senses, and he was unsure if he had ever felt more complete.

Gaze still focused on her lips, and mouth still filled with so much of her taste, he so desperately wanted to keep that feeling going. 

Their lips had only barely touched when Grace abruptly pulled away.

At the loss of contact, Simon’s eyes worriedly followed her as she took a few steps away from him in a couple almost jerky motions.

His heart nearly broke in two when he realized that she was looking everywhere else in the room except for him. Panic jolted through him as he realized just how much he had messed up.

“Why… did you try and kiss me?” her words were a far cry from their typical confidence, instead they were worried and breathless.

“Grace--” he began

“You know we can’t do this, we can’t… this.. Isn’t a good idea, especially now.”

With every word the bathroom felt to be smaller and smaller, until Simon felt completely closed in by his regret. Unable to stay put, he quickly turned away from her.

“I’m so sorry… I… I’ll be in my room.” he stated before leaving the bathroom without another word.

Although he heard Grace call after him, he didn’t bother to stop.

He climbed to the top of the stairs, down the hallway, and into his room. Once he was inside he shut the door and slumped down on the edge of his bed, bringing his hands up to his teary face furiously wiping in hopes that would make him stop crying.

He had such limited time left with Grace and he ruined it. He was so stupid for thinking he of all people deserved her affections. Although he had come to care for Grace in a way that went beyond simple friendship, she never seemed particularly interested in him. Of course she would be repulsed by any open displays of affection now that he wasn’t even a person.

Simon had these same feelings for years and knew not to act on them. He knew better or, at least the man he used to be knew better-- now he was different, now he was _wrong._

He wasn’t acting in the way he was supposed to, his mind filled with intrusive thoughts he could no longer contain, and he knew exactly what that meant-- the change must have already started.

Finally calming his weeps, he moved his hands from his tearful face, catching a glimpse of his shiny silver engagement ring, and his own vampiric flesh blistering beneath it.

He couldn’t be with Grace: not as a lover,

Not as a friend, 

And most definitely not as a fiance. 

Ripping it off quickly, he threw it as hard as he could into the far wall. It went flying into the drywall with such speed that when it impacted the sound ricocheted around him, however Simon was too stuck in his own mind to care. 

He was sitting on the edge of his bed when he heard a knock on his door. Of course he had heard her approach, but he had nothing left to say to her.

“Simon....” Grace’s voice called from the other side. “Are you still in there? Can I come in?” 

Simon did not bother answering, he left the door unlocked, so if she really wanted in there was nothing stopping her.

After a moment of silence he saw the knob turn and the door slowly open.

While Grace walked in, he kept his eyes concentrated on the floor. “Hey, I’m sorry about what happened downstairs, I might have overreacted a bit. I just want you to know that I’m here for you.” the curly haired women stated, and if Simon did not know any better, he would have thought she was sincere. 

“I don’t want your hollow apology. You don’t need to pretend to like being in my presence anymore” he hissed, finally bringing his gaze up to meet hers. “I know I’m repulsive, you can be honest.” 

Her eyebrows knitted at his statement, she looked like she was about to protest before he spoke up once more.

“You said you’d put a stop to me when I crossed the line. I crossed the line, and I’m ready.”

Shaking her head, she put her hands on her hips, “No Simon, listen to me--”

Baring his fangs he gritted, “Don’t make me make you.”

This immediately changed his ex-fiances stance, as she almost instinctively reached for her dagger, hand only stopping when it touched the hilt. Taking a deep breath she spoke clearly. “I understand you’re in a lot of pain-- lets just talk about this Sandals.”

When he lunged directly at her she looked actually surprised. Only managing to dodge him at the last second.

“Don’t you get it?” He hissed swiping at her with nails a bit too long and sharp. “I’ve been infected!”

Catching the end of her shoulder with his claws, she jumped back out of his range.

“I'm not Sandals anymore! I’m a rot, a poison that needs to be purged.” he seethed, crouching low in preparation to pounce. Before the change he always had to be more strategic when sparring with Grace, for in a straight battle of strength and speed she was superior-- but now, with her blood briming inside him, he knew that was no longer true.

And from the way she was staring at him, eyes wide and panicked, he realized she had come to the same conclusion…

...and yet she had still not drawn her blade.

That was something he needed to correct. 

He pressed forward, once again entering her range. For every swipe of his claws, Grace managed to dip and bow and dance around him, avoiding his attacks, but still not making any of her own.

After she had once again jumped back to avoid an assault from his claws his frustration boiled over. “Why won’t you fight back!” He nearly screamed, his shoulders were shaking and he was pretty sure that there were also tears in his eyes. “You said! You can’t go back on your word now, you owe me this!”

“Simon…” Grace stared at him faltering for only one moment, before her gaze steeled in resolution, “No!... I don’t owe you this. This!” She gestured wildly around them, “is not what I promised.” 

Her words gave Simon pause, shoulders shaking in frustration. Of course this was what she promised, what was she even talking about, he had crossed the line, he had proved he was a monster-- drinking her blood, trying to kiss her, it was unforgivable.

Upon his reaction Grace seemed to think it was a good idea to lower her guard and approach him. A true mistake on her part.

With her guard down it was easy enough to tackle her to the floor. Hovering over her, he growled. “Stop treating me like I’m not a danger, Everything is different, I’m different!”

She didn’t even really bother to struggle, simply critically starting at him with those brown eyes. He knew she was still unconvinced, even after he attacked her, even while he held her in a position they both knew one should never let a vampire do. He so desperately didn’t want it to come to this, but he had to prove that he needed to be executed.

Hand moving quickly to grasp her wrists in a vice grip, he leaned down, only hesitating for a second before biting into her neck. He didn’t insert his fangs too deeply, only just enough for him to know that it would hurt.

Blood filled his mouth much quicker than it had on his previous meal, this time he did not stop himself when he felt his self control slip and it was quickly overloading his senses. He was vaguely aware of Grace yelping in pain beneath him, but in that moment everything had become secondary to the taste of her. It was easy to lose himself in the sensation and unlike before he did not bother to resist it. He wanted to show her what kind of dangerous creature he had become and what better way than to give into it completely.

The moan which escaped his lips was so utterly guttural and animalistic it took him a second to even realize it had come from him. It was as if all his senses except taste were delayed, the substance on his tongue made everything else just too hard to focus on.

And perhaps that was why he didn’t notice Grace’s wrists wiggle their way out of his grip, in fact he didn’t even realize anything was amiss until there was a sound of something clicking shut and a sudden resounding pain in his right wrist.

Pulling back from the bloodied neck with a hiss, his mouth still smeared with Grace’s blood when he faced her once more, thick strands of red dripping down onto her cheek as he panted. Her eyes were glassy, and although he expected them to be fearful, he was instead treated with an almost smug smile as she yanked on what she was holding, causing him to scream out in pain.

Clutched in her hand was one end of her silver cuffs, the other locked firmly onto his wrist. Gaze lingering on the cuff for a millisecond, he turned back to look at Grace just in time to see her fist come flying towards his face.

He heard a distinct cracking sound as her fist collided with his nose, the force of her punch knocking him off of her-- his nose most certainly broken.

She was on him the very next second, grasping wildly at his other hand until she forced it into the other cuff. 

Standing back to her feet, she shoved her foot down on his chest to keep him still as he writhed and hissed against his restraints. The more he struggled he more the silver pressed deeply into his skin. He must have been nearing the end of the change considering how much it hurt.

“I’m not going to kill you!” Grace huffed at him, not seeming to even bother to pay attention to her own wound. “How many times am I going to have to repeat that before you get it through your thick skull!”

“Look at me,” he growled, baring his fangs in his best attempt to look intimidating despite the pain. “I’m abhorrent, I’m wrong!”

Letting out a long exasperated sigh, she responded, “Yeah I am looking at you, and do you know what I see?” She paused, even though she clearly did not expect a response. “An idiot who would rather throw everything away then bothering to try… why are you doing this Simon? It’s not helping anything-- are you trying to make it worse? Are you trying to make me suffer?”

“I….” He started before the weight of her words fully hit him causing him to stutter, “I...No… I don’t want you to suffer.” he admitted. “Grace… I just want to protect you, our way of life, the Apex... I was to protect us.”

Glaring down at him, she raised an eyebrow incredulously. “This is some funny way of doing it... if you really want to protect me, then how about you actually listen to what I want! Now can you stop being an ass for one second and hear what I’ve been trying to tell you?”

With literally nowhere else to go, and wrists so mind numbingly painful Simon nodded reluctantly.

“Okay, good. Now as I was trying to say; doesn't the fact that you want me to kill you mean you there is still some of you in there? You keep yelling at me that everything is different-- but literally only you are obsessed enough with Apex procedure to suggest something like this!”

He froze, “Wha.. what are you saying?” 

Clearly exasperated, Simon was surprised the curly haired woman removed her foot from his chest instead of stepping down with more force. “Since you’re stuck on stupid, let me spell this out for you.” Bending down she brought one of her fingers just below his nose, before bringing it up to his line of sight for inspection. 

It was a thick black substance, after hunting so many vampires, Simon easily recognized it to be the ichor the creatures had instead of blood.

“Look,” Grace stated, “Your blood is already black, your fangs are developed, as are your claws and healing factor, and desire for blood. From where I’m standing it looks like you’ve completed your transformation, and yet you're still… you. Sure some things are different, but once upon a time I promised I wouldn't abandon you, and I’m not going to go back on my word now.”

Jaw dropping, Simon couldn’t believe what she was saying, and between his incredulity at her statement and searing pain in his wrists, he was unable to find his own words. 

And so his partner kept talking.

“You and me, we’ve been side by side for years now, and I’m not going to let anything get between us, even this. Now are you going to keep fighting against me? Or are you actually going to help for once?”

From her intent stare, he knew he needed to respond, clearing his throat he nearly squeaked. “Ah..um...help?”

It had always astonished him how quickly Grace could switch gears, so when her fierce glare suddenly transformed into an eager smile, it felt so very right. “Great! Then I’ll uncuff you then.”

He was more than eager to lift his wrists out for her to access, the skin beneath almost completely peeled away, exposing black beneath it.

Unlocking the cuffs his partner twirled them around before putting them back on her belt. Kneeling down to Simon, she gently brought her fingers to the wounds, inspecting it softly. As skin on his wrists slowly began to creep its way back over the injured flesh, she turned her attention to his hand, specifically his ring finger.

“Hmm, well I suppose I’m going to need to get you a new ring, obviously silver's no longer gonna work.” she stated easily and casually as if they had not just had a fight.

“After all this you STILL want to get married?” he gasped at her, “You… can't be serious!”

“Totally serious.”

“But what about the Apex? They’re not going to stand for a vampire commander. What about blood? I can’t feed off of you forever? What about--”

“Simon!” she stopped him before clasping his free hand between hers and giving him one of her brightest smiles, “There isn’t any use of freaking out right now. We’ll figure it out, together… okay? I just need to know that you’re with me.”

There was still millions of questions on his mind, tons of potential problems and issues, and even more ways something could go wrong-- but he was so tired of trying to fight against her.

Despite her perchance for impulsiveness. Despite the fact that she probably didn’t have a plan. Despite his own worries still bubbling beneath the surface, he had to admit she had a point-- if his transformation was complete, and he was still himself, there was no need to rush, they could hash all of the details out later. 

“I’m always with you,” he said, surprising even himself with the quickness and sincerity of his own words. “We’re a team.”

She beamed at him as brightly as ever, before standing up. Her hand still intertwined with his refusing to let go, he had no choice but to follow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty, Fic is halfway done y'all. As always please leave a review/comment-- I would very much appreciate it :)


	4. Slipping Control

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grace and Simon do some investigating and unintentionally end up confronting their entire world view, to mixed results.

Grace had been pacing around the house nonstop, and Simon was starting to get concerned.

“You're going to tread a hole in the carpet if you keep that up,” he mumbled.

“Huh, what?” She replied without even looking at him, it must have taken a few seconds for her to actually register the meaning of his words as she took a couple more steps before stopping and turning to him. “Oh, uh… sorry, just a lot on my mind.” she finished, hand raising to idly scratch at the bandages on her neck softly.

That was no surprise, over the past couple days there had been a lot on Simon’s mind as well.

After their fight Grace immediately went about finding ways of making his condition more manageable, and first and foremost on that list was locating a stable food source. Luckily, part of the perks of living with an extremely rich heiress was her finances could buy almost anything-- including access to donated blood bags. The first time he forced himself to drink from one, he almost gagged at the taste. It was nowhere near as palatable as fresh blood from his fiance, but he was not about to ask for that, even just remembering his partner's crimson warmth caused him to shiver with a wicked delight-- a truly detestable desire. Grace was kind enough to forgive his previous transgressions: his attack, his kiss-- there was no way he would drink from her and once again and allow himself to give into his darker impulses. 

Regardless of the monster he knew himself to be, Grace insisted that she still cared for him. 

Regardless of his inability to look at himself in the mirror too long, lest he have to reconcile the face of the enemy on himself, Grace would still stare at him with the same affectionate abandon she always had. 

Regardless of his lack of trust in his own control, his curly haired finance trusted him to keep hold of himself.

So it was out of the question to let her down.

It was Grace who suggested that if the blood bags were unappetizing perhaps they should heat them up. The first time they both stood in front of the microwave Simon struggled to contain both his building hunger at the scent of the warming liquid and the disgust he felt at what he had been reduced to. His partner must have noticed his discomfort as she reached out to grab his hand, silently gripping him as they watched the timer tick down to zero.

The blood was much better after being heated up, not as flavorful as Grace’s of course, but it did at least sooth a little of the gnawing emptiness inside him, and after drinking his fill, he actually found it slightly easier to not be tempted by his fiance’s smell. It was too early to know for sure if he could last on bagged blood indefinitely, but as the days passed with no change in his condition, he actually gathered the courage to hope, if even just a little bit.

It had been a couple days since then, Grace was trying her best to keep herself together. When they were first getting used to their new reality there were more than a few times she had to talk him down from doing something drastic. However now that he was feeling a bit more complacent, she started to actually show her worry. And now with her mindless pacing, Simon felt it was his turn to comfort her.

“Are you feeling alright?” he asked cautiously, her previous response not giving him much confidence.

“Yeah--” she spoke softly, “I’ve just been thinking... about my mother. She was so different after she changed, she hurt my father so badly and had to be stopped, but…” Grace trailed off, unable to vocalize what she was thinking.

Pieces clicking together in Simon’s mind, he finished the sentence for her. “You’re wondering why it hasn’t happened to me.”

The curly haired woman sighed before nodding. “The hunter who saved me said she ‘went feral’ and for the longest time I thought that’s what the change does to you. But now… I dunno, I thought all vampires were the same, but if there are more like you…”

Of course Simon knew what she was implying, and he did not like it one bit. “But what!?” he snapped, “Are you seriously going to stand there and tell me you think there are some innocent bloodsuckers? After everything we’ve seen? Next are you going to say you think the nulls are misunderstood as well!?

“Obviously not the nulls!” she huffed, “but maybe some of the vampires who were once humans are able to retain their humanity somehow, I dunno-- I mean if you managed to not turn feral, who’s to say it's not possible for others? Considering everything we’ve learned in the last few days, I’m thinking we need to find some answers.”

“Yeah and who are we going to ask? Other vampires?” he spat sarcastically.

At this Grace stopped in her tracks, eyes lighting up at the suggestion.

Simon on the other hand threw his head back in a groan, “C’mon Grace, you can’t be serious?”

“Yeah, and why not, smart guy?” She started wagging her finger at him, “Who would know more about this type of thing than other vampires? We know that they tend to gather in nests-- we could send you in posed as a newly turned vampire looking for guidance."

Opening his mouth to protest, he realized he didn’t really have a rebuttal to that. Simon had to admit that the idea had some merit, the vampire was a communal creature, and his experience taking down nests he knew that they seemed to have some loyalty to each other. Posing as a new lost vampire would be easy enough, as he was definitely one those two things-- but there was one issue with the plan that bothered him immensely

“Grace… I don’t want to go into a den of monsters by myself. Even if I am one of them...I...I…”

But before he could go on, Grace put her hand on his shoulder reassuringly, “Hey, no one said anything about you going in by yourself-- I’ll go with you.”

“But you’re not a--”

“Yeah, I know,” she responded swiftly, “but you know better than most that sometimes a vamp will convince a human to follow them around. We can just pretend I’m a victim you pretended to befriend.”

Her comment was like a knife to his chest. Of course he knew that-- he often thought back to his time with Samantha. How she found him one night digging through a trashcan looking for anything halfway edible, how she took him under her wing, tended to his wound and gave him a fresh meal, how she abandoned him the second things didn’t go the way she foresaw.

“...you really think that’ll work? What if they find us out? Think about the all the times we’ve been recognized on a hunt.”

“Then we’ll just have to go outside of our normal hunting grounds. And yeah, of course it’ll work. I only come up with the best ideas.” she bragged, putting her hands on her hips to emphasize her point.

“But--”

“Simon, it honestly seems like our best option now, and if we’re found out, or we don’t get any answers.” she paused before lowering her voice to something more cruel and calculated, “Then we’ll make them regret they ever met us.”

After a split second of silence, her smile returned to her face before she said, “We can do this, trust me.”

Grumbling he agreed, if Grace was going to come with him he supposed it couldn't go too badly, worst came to worst, they'd just have another hunt on their hands.

Finding a new nest was no easy feat-- as their war with the vampires raged on through the years it had become harder and harder to find gatherings. But Grace was committed, working for hours checking news outlets and individual testimonies that matched what they were looking for. Simon would have been impressed by her tenacity if he weren’t actively dreading actually enacting their plan.

It took almost a month of sleepless nights and endless days of searching before they found what they were looking for. A little over three hundred miles south, in a small cow-town in the middle of nowhere, there was a sighting of an inexplicably fast figure bounding through the night.

Of course Grace immediately wanted to check it out, so only an hour later they were on the road. 

The drive was long and for the first hour Simon did not know what to say. Over the last month it had become obvious to him that no amount of bagged blood, no matter the temperature, ever left him feeling completely sated-- despite his attempts his mind would inevitably lead back to the urge to tear into something. Even still it was manageable as long as he kept himself isolated from humans and made sure to stay at least five feet from Grace at all times. 

But now-- trapped in a small confined space right next to Grace’s enticing scent was incredibly difficult. He could hear her heart beat so clearly and after a while he had to put considerable effort into not jumping the other while she was driving.

He must have not been particularly good at hiding it, as after an hour Grace spoke up casually. “You hungry?” she asked in a calm almost indifferent sounding tone.

“A bit,” There was no use denying it, she had asked him because she already knew, like it wasn’t the most obvious thing in the world. “But that’s alright I packed some bagged blood, I’ll just have some later.”

“Hmm?” She hummed, eyes still firmly on the road, “Well, maybe, around the halfway mark we should take a break, stand up, do some stretches, and I can treat you to something better than the ‘bagged stuff.’”

“What...? No!” Despite the small voice in the back of his head begging him on taking her up on that offer, begging for more carnage, he forced himself to look horrified at the suggestion, "We can’t do that again."

“Don’t think I haven’t noticed the way you stare sometimes," She chided, "You don't have to take much-- but it would probably be good to have you at your best in case things turn south at the nest.” she responded simply.

She knew exactly what to say to make him desperate to take her up on it, but no-- if he wanted to stay as human as he could still possibly be, he could not allow himself such indulgences. “I don’t know Grace, it just doesn’t seem like the best idea, I think I’ll just stick to the bagged stuff.”

And he fully intended on following through with his alternative. So an hour later, at an empty truck rest stop when Simon found himself pressed up to Grace, fangs in her neck, he would have been embarrassed how quickly he faltered if not for the blood on his tongue clearing his mind of anything that wasn’t a deep primal hunger.

She dragged him to the back of the rest stop building and before he could even protest, took off the turtleneck sweater she made a habit of wearing after his last bite, leaned against the wall, and reached out to bury her hands in his blonde hair, pulling him towards the skin of her recently healed throat. And having spent so much time nearly swimming in her scent during the first part of their journey, he was only able to give a few weak protests before giving in.

His hands were planted firmly against the brick of the wall. Sharp nails fully extended, he made sure to keep them off of Grace, lest he accidentally cause her more injury than intended. 

His breathing was haggard, and he could just barely resist biting deeper, instead with great effort removing his fangs from umber skin and lapping at the pooling blood. The sounds pouring from his mouth were low, throaty, and entirely instinctual-- had he been in his right mind he probably would have lamented his monstrous behavior and inability to control himself.

But he was not in his right mind, and neither it seemed was Grace, who only encouraged him more. As his tongue swirled around the bite mark, one of her hands drifted to his hip, drawing him even closer until there was almost no space between them.

Pressed up against her, Simon could feel the heat of her body: the pumping of her heart, her rapid breathing, which hitched every time he ran his tongue across her wound. A bestial grow gathered in his throat-- all he wanted to do was pin her to the wall, drink even more deeply, to bite at every exposed juncture of her skin until she was crying out his name.

Those predatory thoughts sat in his muddled mind for around half a second before, almost on cue, Grace let out a quiet moan which shook him to his core. The sound snapping him out of his stupor, horrified, he froze. No, he was not going to allow himself to think that way about Grace, to treat her like she was anything less than his commanding officer, his best friend who deserved nothing but his respect, least of all his foul lusts. So with great strife he pulled himself away from her neck.

He expected to see her gaze upon him in revulsion at his reaction to her blood, or at the very least annoyance that he couldn't keep hold of himself. But instead, she gazed upon him with half lidded eyes, her cheeks flush, panting just as he was.

To say he did not expect her to lean in for a kiss would be the understatement of the century, so when her lips met his, he couldn't help but let out a weak whine and give in, his desires for blood temporarily pushed aside for his desire for Grace.

As expected, she was a fantastic kisser-- unconcerned with tasting her own blood, she nibbled at the bottom of his lip until he opened his mouth to her prying tongue. When she switched their positions so that she was pressing him into the bricks, he wholeheartedly let her.

It took them a few moments to catch onto each other's rhythm, but soon they were just as in sync as they were in battle, and it was glorious.

It was Grace who pulled away first, breathless, she brought her hand up to her mouth to wipe the blood from her lips. It was rare to see his partner so flustered as she was typically the one who had it together while he freaked out, but when her eyes met his, panic clearly building in hers, he realized the mistake they had made.

“I… uh…” She started quickly, taking a step away from him. “That… was…” she trailed off, clear at loss for what to say.

The words came to Simon before he even had time processing them, “You don’t need to explain! It’s, It's not your fault... it's probably just a vampire thing… you know?” That wasn’t much of an explanation and even he knew it was weak, from all their time hunting there had never been any evidence of vampires influencing their prey in that way. However it was even more unlikely in his mind that Grace had actually intended or even wanted to kiss him, so there must have been another explanation.

“Um, Yeah!” his partner quickly agreed, sounding as if she was trying to convince herself, “Vampire stuff… of course.” She laughed nervously, not meeting his eyes.

“Yup, so no need to talk about it. Let’s just get back on the road!” he spoke trying to keep the embarrassment in his mind at bay, quickly he pushed himself off the wall and started walking back towards the car. “We’ve stopped for long enough.”

Grace wholeheartedly agreed before following behind him. The rest of the drive was awkward and neither of them dared speak-- Grace concentrated on the road, and Simon attempting to focus on anything except the fragrance of her blood, even thicker now that it had been recently spilt. 

When they finally arrived at their destination, his fiance was quick to start searching the town. By this point they knew how to scope out potential threats, and with a town so small, there were really only a few limited places a vampire could hide. When they learned of a seemingly abandoned barn at the edge of town from the locals, they knew they pinpointed the nest.

“Let’s just get this over with,” he sighed as they stood a few hundred feet away from the ‘abandoned’ building.

Grace nodded, hand moving to clasp his tightly before they moved to the entrance together.

When they got close enough, the front door of the barn slid open to reveal a figure, yellow gaze concentrated on them. She was a female null, looking to be a couple years younger than them, however her eyes were hardened with what seemed like years of struggle. She was wearing a black tank top, her head shaved and smooth. The vampire looked unconcerned with their approach, however when they got close enough she spoke up.

“What do you want?” suspicion ringing in her voice.

Suspicion was good, if she had recognized them, then she would have greeted them with open hostility instead.

It was Grace who answered first, “We need some help, my friend here,” she gestured over to him, “is looking for some answers.”

The null nodded, golden gaze moving to inspect Simon before nodding and asking, “Who’s your contact?”

Simon raised an eyebrow, “What contact?”

The null seemed to contemplate his words for a second, before responding. “No contact, no entry.”

Grace took a step forward and in a voice so desperate that it would have even fooled Simon if they were not on the same page, she begged, “Please, we need answers, a few weeks ago my friend here was attacked, changed, and we barely know what’s going! We’ve been looking for others like him for a while. We just want to know what we’re dealing with… we need… help.”

Simon has to resist a sly grin, it was impressive how well Grace was able to lie, it always worked like a charm.

“Lake!” a male figure called, before emerging from the barn to stand right ext to the null. “We should help them! They sound like they really need it!”

‘Lake’ groaned rolling her eyes, “You know the rules.”

“We can’t just turn them away! Don’t make me sing the empathy song again.” he teased.

The null sputtered, before throwing her arms up in exasperation, “Fine then, lets just let some random unvetted strangers in-- I’m sure everything will be perfectly alright.” she replied sarcastically.

“That’s the spirit!.” he laughed before turning his attention to the two of them, raising his hand in an invitation to shake. “Hey you two, my name is Jesse, and if you’re looking for answers, you’ve come to the right place!” 

Now that this new figure was focused on them, both Grace and Simon finally got a good look at him. Wearing what looked to be some kind of letterman jacket, this guy smile was wide and welcoming, brown eyes lit up with clear curiosity.

A human.

Of course it was not out of the ordinary to find a human in a vampire nest, and while normally that would be cause for concern, this time it filled Simon with some much needed relief. If there was another human here, that meant that Grace would probably be tolerated as well.

Probably coming to the same conclusion, Grace smiled and reached her hand out to take Jesse’s.

“Hey Jesse-- My name is Gabby, and this is my friend Silas.” She lied easily. “And we’ve been through a lot recently.”

“Oh, I bet! But you don’t need to worry anymore, you’re quite lucky you found us.”

Grace and Simon threw each other a confused look before Simon spoke up, “Yeah, how’s that?”

Jessie turned back to stare at them incredulously, “Wha, you mean you don’t know?”

“Know what?” they both asked simultaneously.

Smile widening on Jesse's face he turned back to the null, “Lake, can I give them the tour?”

‘Lake’ rolled her eyes, “Sure, whatever, but don’t blame me if you get in trouble with the director. if you need anything I’ll be with Alan.”

Jessie looked as if he were literally about to jump for joy, before turning back to the pair and saying, “All right you two follow me.” gesturing inside the barn.

At first there really wasn’t much to see, just a dusty abandoned space, residual hay covering some of the ground, but when Jessie gestured to the northwest corner of the barn they caught a glimpse of a large hatch in the floor. Lifting it with some struggle, he did not hesitate to go inside, and after both Simon and Grace followed they discovered a whole complex beneath the barn.

Inside was a huge main room with almost twenty other figures-- Some with red eyes, some with yellow, as well as a surprisingly high portion of greens, blues, and browns. There were even more humans in the space than vampires, and yet everyone seemed to be mingling among each other casually unbothered by the difference. Two guards stood by the entrance below, one human one null. Jesse nodded at them before turning around to look back at the pair. 

The smell hit Simon full force, there were more humans in the room then he had seen in the last month combined, and for the briefest moment, he worried he was going to attack someone, before he steadied himself by reaching out to grasp Grace's hand.

She did not even hesitate in gripping him back, and with a combination of her blood still inside him and her hand tethering him to his senses, he was able to stay in place.

Jesse either did not notice the slight shift in Simon's posture or it didn't bother him as instead of commenting on it, he waved his hands in front of him with a “Tadaa ~” before speaking. 

“I know it’s a lot to take in, but welcome to our little community! We provide all sorts of resources for vampires and humans in the know. From free blood bags, to counseling, to even a buddy system for those who come to us alone… but it looks like you two are already buddied up.”

Grace let out an interested “hmm” before asking, “So.. this is like a vampire community center?”

Jesse smiled before enthusiastically nodding, “Yeah, exactly!”

Simon couldn’t help but let out a snort, “Sure, like vampires are the ones that need extra support.” 

“Huh?” Jesse responded, confusion clearly written on his face.

Simon was about to open his mouth to repeat his statement, but before he could Grace interrupted, “What Silas is trying to ask,” she spoke just a little too loudly in a clear attempt to shut him up, “Is why is this kind of support even necessary? After Silas changed he was a little stronger and faster than before, so why would vampires need assistance.”

“That’s a good question Gabby,” their guide said in an overly validating tone, “and the simple answer is that while sure, vampires tend to be a bit more physically capable than your average human there are also a lot less of them. Usually if they are found out they are systematically hunted down and executed by mobs, or even trained hunters.” Turning to gesture to the various people around them he continued, “Most of the folks here have been displaced or lost loved ones to hunters-- it can be super dangerous out there alone… But that’s why we exist!”

“And how do you keep the vampires you take in from harming the humans here?” Simon asked, critically. Jesse's story made no sense-- even just being in the compound in the presence of so many humans was testing, with so much warm bodies in the room he could barely keep his nails from lengthening in preparation for bloodshed. How could a whole nest of vampires keep all these humans around without any slaughter? There must be something Jesse wasn’t telling them.

Jesse gave him a confused stare at the comment, “People come to us for help, of course they aren’t going to pick fights with the people helping them, that would be a bit silly right?”

“But what about those you can’t control, those who turn into monsters who kill for sport?” Simon pressed, getting frustrated that Jesse couldn’t see how it would be dangerous for humans to be around, how dangerous it was for him to be around so many predators.

Grace threw him a look he knew to mean ‘turn it down’ before Jesse chuckled nervously in response.

“Wow you really are new to this aren’t you?” he asked Simon, “Vampirism doesn’t just automatically make you into a monster, in fact, most get by with just bagged blood and aren't a threat to anyone. They’re people too, and if they’re not out to harm then they deserve help.”

Lip twisting upwards in the start of a snarl, Simon narrowed his eyes, “How can you say that! I was attacked-- how are you going to stand there and say that the monster who did this to me was anything less than exactly that, a monster!” He seethed at Jesse who was starting to look incredibly uncomfortable. The human boy clearly hadn't expected this outburst and there was even a hint of fear in his eyes.

Triumph sounded in Simon’s mind-- Jesse should be scared, maybe now he would know better than to trust any random vampire he encountered. Emboldened by his victory he attempted to press on. “Do you even know--”

However, before he could continue with his rant, one of Grace’s hand still intertwined with his, gripped him almost painfully reached, in a silent call for him to stop pressing. 

Grumbling slightly, he shut his mouth and let his finance take the lead. She wanted to do the questioning, that was fine by him. She was always better with that kind of stuff anyways.

“Sorry about that Jesse, Silas is just a bit on edge. We haven't exactly had the best experience with other vampires.” she apologized, bending down so that she was at eye level with the boy.

Jesse was quick to bounce back, the second Grace defused the situation, he was back to being all smiles. “Yeah, I supposed if you two were attacked and Silas was changed against his will, then that might not paint the best picture… hmm, I’ll tell you what, I can see you both have a lot of questions. So I’ll go and get the director of our little center and she can sit you down and explain everything you need to know, sounds good?”

Grace smiled and answered, “That sounds fantastic Jesse, we’d love to speak to your director.”

“Great! You two feel free to mingle, and she’ll be right out!” he announced with a grin before turning to focus on Simon specifically, “And if you are feeling a bit peckish, we just got in a new delivery of donated blood, and there is plenty left.”

Simon tried his best to force a smile and decline the offer in the most neutral voice he could muster. He was not about to accept blood from the enemy.

Jesse nodded repeating that he would be right back before turning and leaving to find his boss.

Once he was out of sight Simon immidately retreated to one of the walls of the facility, as far away from any of the other vamps or humans as he could. 

Grace followed shortly after and together they scanned the small crowd before them. “These people are idiots,” he mumbled.

Grace sighed before answering, “I see what you mean, they have some pretty out there views, but who knows, maybe they have something figured out, I mean Jesse did say everyone here just drinks from donated blood.”

“Oh, right and obviously Jesse is telling the truth.”

His fiance frowned before shifting so that she was facing him. He did not turn to look at her, knowing that a lecture was coming. “Look, ‘Silas’” she said his fake name with emphasis, “We are here to learn, maybe we shouldn’t be making any assumptions before we have the whole picture.”

Simon only rolled his eyes at the comment and turned his attention back to the gathering in front of them. What could he possibly learn from these people? How to manipulate humans into trusting him, into building entire support networks for him and his kind? No, these people were clearly misled, they needed to be saved from the encroaching threat they surrounded themselves with. 

He could smell the scent of every single human present in the room. Their blood pumping so loudly in his ears it was impossible to ignore. He knew how easy it would be to start tearing through them, how delightful the carnage would be. And if he felt this urge bubbling beneath his skin, then there was no doubt in his mind that all of the other vampires did as well.

Eyes still faced forward, he was the first to notice a figure moving towards them. She was an older woman, perhaps in her late fifties, while her face was wrinkled with age, her hair was light brown with not a gray hair in sight. Her brown eyes were concentrated on them as she approached. 

So this was their director, Simon expected a vampire, but considering the amount of humans walking around the facility he supposed it was not out of the question they’d have a human figurehead to put the other humans who wandered in at ease. 

Elbowing Grace lightly, he gestured to the encroaching woman. However when his partner turned to look as well, an entirely shocked expression encapsulated her face.

Simon was about to ask what that was all about, but before he could, the older woman had reached them and spoke. "So you must be Gabby and Silas?” She asked in a distinctly British accent, tone curt and to the point. “I am the director of this operation, Amelia Hughes.”

“You…” Grace gasped incredulously, looking this new woman up and down.

The director raised an eyebrow at the curly haired woman’s reaction “Do I know you?” she asked.

His fiance’s mouth hung slightly ajar before she shook off her incredulity. “Do you remember saving a little girl from a vampire attack about ten years ago?”

Oh... so that’s who this woman was. Grace had told him the story of the first hunter she met, many times. There was really only one person she could be referring to-- but could this woman really be the same person? she didn’t seem like them, like a hunter-- quite the opposite considering she was running an organization that supposedly helped stray vampires.

“No,” The director responded simply, seemingly not even bothering to think it over. 

“Are you sure this is her?” Simon asked, directing his gaze to Grace.

She nodded, “Yeah I am-- it’s her.”

The older woman pinched the bridge of her nose, “If you’re done talking about me like I am not standing right in front of you, then let's be on our way. I’d rather handle this sooner than later— I have a new arrival scheduled to be here soon that I need to meet with. Now would you two follow me.” it was not a question, but a demand, and Simon was starting to feel agitated at her trying to tell them what to do. 

But before he could vocalize his resistance Grace answered with an immediate, “Of course,” and began to follow the director.

Simon exhaled deeply before he pushed himself off the wall and caught up with Grace.

The woman led the two of the out from beneath the barn, on her way calling to one of the guards saying something along the lines of “if the girl arrives before I’m back, escort her over to the north field.”

Once they were above ground she turned to them. “You two are going to follow me out into the open field to the north of here; there you shall ask me whatever questions you may have and I will do my best to answer them. Once you are satisfied you will leave and shall not return here.” 

Her orders were easy to understand and concise, but Simon took orders from no one except Grace.

“And why the hell should we do that?” Simon growled, planting his feet where he was in disobedience.

The woman didn’t even bother looking at him when she replied, simply starting down at her watch and frowning. “Because short pants, you two are strangers and this is a survivors shelter, you can’t just walk in unannounced. Jesse shouldn’t have let you two in here in the first place. You have questions, and I have a meeting after this so it's in our best interest to get it over with,” and without another word she turned back north and started walking.

Unsure of what to do he looked over to Grace, who shrugged at him before starting to follow the hunter. He let out an annoyed huff, not wanting to spend another second in that woman’s presence, but he was not about to disagree with his fiance. 

They followed the director until they reached what was supposedly the north field, she then turned around, her stern expression focused specficially onto him.

“How were you turned?” she asked simply.

Simon shrugged, “I was attacked, knocked unconscious, and woke up like this.”

“Have you tasted blood yet?”

“I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”

“Just making sure you won’t turn feral,” Amelia paused meaningfully. Narrowing her eyes, she inspected Simon in a calculated manner, “or aren’t already.”

The blonde man clenched his teeth at her accusation, however before he could express himself through words, Grace interjected, stepping forward with purpose. “Turning feral? What does that mean?”

The director sighed lightly, as if she were sick of explaining to them what for her probably seemed obvious. 

“Typically vampires feel the urge for blood the same way that we humans feel the urge for our food. As something mildly annoying at best to life threatening at worst, but rarely all consuming. However sometimes a newly turned vampire will have more extreme tendencies and become consumed by their own hunger. This is not usually a problem, as it is generally taboo to turn a human unless they are well known by the one who turns them and are already dying. Turning someone who is an unknown quantity is risky and if the person just so happens to already be particularly vicious or sadistic-- they will typically become feral.”

Staring at this woman, so monotone and uninterested, it was obvious she clearly did not particularly care about them or their situation, and yet she dared to stand there and imply he was the one at fault?! That it was because of some foulness in himself that he found it so hard to resist the bloody allure of the humans around him. No! He knew there was something innately malicious about all vampires! He’d seen it-- why else would Grace’s mother have tried to harm her, why else did Samantha just up and abandon him when he needed her most? He was feeling this way because of the stupid vamprism he had been afflicted with!

Speaking through clenched teeth, his palms balled into a fist in an attempt to hide his lengthening nails. “I’m not going to believe your propaganda. Vampires are innately evil, that’s their nature!”

Amelia snorted condescendingly as if it were a particularly stubborn child she was talking to “Believe what you want to pipsquirt, you were the one who answers, I’m just telling you what I know. There is no innate morality here-- to say otherwise is overly simplistic and reductive.”

Grace, who had been uncharacteristically during Amelia’s speech, butted in once more, “I don’t understand, you used to be a hunter! Right…? What happened, to change your views?”

Amelia turned her attention to Grace raising an eyebrow inquisitively, if she was wondering how the curly haired woman knew about her previous life as a hunter she didn’t ask. “It's true i have done wrong in the past-- made assumptions based on lacking evidence and hurt many innocents. But not any more, I’m making amends, maybe one day I’ll have done enough to actually atone.”

“Lies!” Simon seethed, not wanting to hear another blasphemous word from this senile woman’s mouth. “I don’t know what your game is but we are not buying it!”

However instead of standing with him for their beliefs like he imagined she would, Grace instead put a hand on his shoulder. “Simon stop!” she ordered, “let's just listen for a moment. Maybe she has a point?”

“Nooo,” he groaned bringing his hands to his face with exasperation, “She’s trying to deceive you Grace.” How his partner even consider listening to the obvious deception in front of them, Simon did not know, but he was not about to allow this to continue.

For once, Amelia seemed to agree with him, “Ok, I think we are done here, It's obvious to me that you do not want to hear what I have to say and I have better things to do than sit here and hold your hand--” she immediately stopped mid-sentence, eyes directed past them towards the direction the three of them approached from. “Speaking of which, it looks like my next appointment has arrived so if you’ll please excuse me, I’ll be on my way.”

And without another word, Amelia pushed past the two of them and started her trek back towards the barn. Grace looked down at the floor deep in thought while Simon turned as well, not content to let this woman openly try to deceive them and just walk away. However when he turned his gaze over to her, something else caught his eye.

A couple hundred feet away from his current spot was one of the barn guards, escorting what looked to be a little girl towards Amelia. However this wasn’t just any little girl-- her yellow eyes, blonde hair and dark skin were so familiar it caused the pit of his stomach to drop.

He’d recognize that face anywhere-- it was the smaller null he and Grace had encountered on their last hunt, the one who ran when they attacked it's nest-mate, the one who came back and ambushed them when they were distracted.

The one who turned him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so this chapter was much longer than normal so apologies for that.
> 
> Please leave a comment of you feel so inclined, a lot of you told me you enjoyed the last chapter and I'm curious if this one lived up to your expectations :)


	5. A True Monster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grace has an crisis regarding the consequences of her actions, Simon continues to have issues.

Grace couldn't believe what she was hearing-- it was the hunter from her childhood, the one who saved her. For almost her whole life, she had held this woman up in her mind as the ideal of what the Apex should be, now to hear her spouting what accounted to treason according to Apex regulation was incredibly jarring

Although, Grace supposed she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t having some serious doubts about what the Apex should be as of late either. With every passing day post Simon’s transformation she had seen him fight his instincts with everything he had, resisted taking the easy way out by resorting to murder for his meals in a way she thought impossible for vampires. And now, seeing a community where vampires were able to coexist safely with humans… well, maybe what Amelia was telling them was not too far off. 

Simon on the other refused to listen, and she just wished that he would be quiet for one minute so that she could consider what they were being told. She tried to get him to stop, but he was so agitated that he completely ignored her, eventually driving Amelia to end the conversation.

Taking a mental step back, Grace contemplated what they were going to do next. They most certainly burned the bridge with this resource and she was even more conflicted than when they first arrived.

Not all vampires were innately evil? Was that even possible? Sure Simon seemed about the same, but could that be true across the board? She thought back to her mother and how lost she became in her own bloodlust-- according to Amelia that meant there was some quality about her mom before her transformation which was amplified by the process and caused her to lose herself. Grace supposed that wasn’t too inconceivable-- her mother had always revealed in the suffering of the people who crossed her, taking great pleasure in striping her rivals of everything they owned on her way to the top of the economic hierarchy. She even sometimes felt that both her and her father meant less to her mother than her money or status. Perhaps that was what Amelia was referring to when she spoke of humans with sadistic tendencies. 

But... if that were true, then that meant the formation of the Apex, and even the start of her relationship with Simon, was based on a misconception. And considering how many vampires they had killed… there was no way that they hadn't harmed any innocents.

The sinking sensation she felt in the back of her mind bloomed into true horror-- the barn was a place of safety, a place to escape from those who wished these people ham, those like herself. 

Her eyes widened, and she turned to look at Simon, in an attempt to discuss what had just happened. When she swiveled around to catch a glimpse of him, he was looking past her, completely frozen.

Confused, she followed his gaze over to see two figures meeting up with Amelia, 

one of them a very familiar small null.

The little null’s yellow eyes looked up at them wide and terrified, before attempting to hide behind Amelia, who had just made it to her.

The girl’s shaky arm slowly moved up to point at the two of them before crying, “It’s them! They’re the ones who killed Tuba-- They’re Apex!”

Grace could feel her blood run cold. She couldn't even deny it, whoever this ‘Tuba’ was to the little null girl, her friend… possibly even her mother-- they had indeed killed her. Her hand came up to her mouth in dismay. If vampires were just people, then this null… no… this little girl had lost everything, and they were the ones to blame.

Grace knew first hand what it was like to lose a parent so young. In all of her years hunting she had been trying to ensure that would never happen to another kid, when in fact she had spent those years causing that exact thing.

Almost unconsciously her shaking hand reached to grab onto Simon’s, looking for any kind of comfort at her troubling realization. However when she instead grasped empty air, she finally noticed her fiance running at full speed towards Amelia and the girl.

Ah shit,

Amelia was the first to react, Quickly turning to the guard who had presumably brought the girl and yelling at them to “Get back to the barn and begin evacuation, if there are already two Apex members here there is no telling how many are on their way. I’ll protect the girl.”

Amelia’s voice was confident-- while her displeasure at the current situation was obvious, she did not look particularly concerned even with Simon running right at her, instead she just pushed the small null behind her and turned her attention to the fast approaching blonde.

Grace knew she would have to intervene, she knew that if she did nothing someone was going to die, and considering how collected Amelia was, she had a sneaking suspicion that even with their years of training and Simon’s new found vamprism, he still wouldn't be able to take her.

She wasn’t faster than her fiance anymore, so even when she broke out into a run at full speed, she knew she wouldn’t make it before he did.

So all she could do was watch when Simon lunged at Amelia fangs and claws out.

Unluckily, or perhaps luckily, the older woman seemed to have no issue subduing his attack. Waiting until he was almost completely on her, she took a few steps towards him, reached into her coat, and pulled out a strange looking bottle. Once he was within her range she easily lifted it and sprayed its contents into his face.

He almost immediately drew to a halt, hissing and coughing, lifting his hands in a failed attempt to rub away the offending substance.

Amelia however did not give him time to recover, crouching down and tripping him while he was preoccupied. Unsheathing what looked to be a long silver dagger, before bringing it down, aimed right for his chest.

With Grace only a few milliseconds away she was able to intercept the attack before it found its mark in her fiance, by meeting it with a dagger of her own.

The sound of metal struck metal, and while Grace was within breathing distance of the director she spoke. “Please! We don’t have to fight! We were telling the truth about only wanting answers to our questions.” she called desperately. 

Amelia did not look swayed, instead applying more pressure to her strike, easily deflecting Grace’s weapon, and slashing across her arm. Before the curly haired woman even had a chance to react, the director moved her blade so it was pointed directly at Grace's neck.

Grace’s hands immediately went up in the air in a sign of resignation, the slash quickly opening up on her arm and trailing a thin stream of blood which dripped to the floor. She hoped that despite how stone cold the director clearly was, she wouldn’t attack someone who was surrendering.

Amelia did seem a bit taken back that Grace had conceded the battle so quickly, however she did not lower her weapon. “So you say, but from where I am standing it’s your ally who is attacking us.”

Eyes darting back to catch a glimpse of Simon still on the floor writhing in pain, she knew they at least had a few more moments before he recovered.

“I know... we’ve had an incomplete story for so long, and because of that we've been going down the wrong path-- but now I understand... He won’t harm you, I won't let him harm you.”

The director's gaze bore into her with such intensity Grace had to remember to breathe. Whatever she was searching for she must have found as her eyes narrowed and she slowly lowered her weapon, but did not resheath it.

Nodding back Grace finally allowed herself to look at the little vampire girl, still hiding behind Amelia. Her golden gaze was wide, unflinching, and so full of obvious fear that it nearly broke Grace’s heart. It always bothered her how much null children looked like human children-- but now that she knew how alike they really were that feeling was more compounded then it had ever been before.

“I’m sorry,” she spoke softly in an attempt not to scare the girl, “I want you to know that I am so sorry for what we put you through.”

The fear in the little vampire’s eye cleared away slightly, slowly being replaced by a building anger as Grace continued to speak. She bared her teeth, her fangs so small and clearly still developing. “No!” she nearly screamed, tears falling from her round cheeks. “I don’t forgive you! It’s your fault she’s gone-- you don’t get to say sorry, you killed her!”

That hurt Grace more than she thought it would have “--But” she tried to explain before she was interrupted by the girl.

“What part of I don’t forgive you don’t you understand!” the null seethed, actually stepping out from behind her protector to point an extended nail at Grace accusatorily. “You’re a monster!”

A monster

Grace was no stranger to that word, it was part of how she recruited for more hunters. ‘Join the Apex, Fight Monsters’ she would tell new recruits, fully convinced those she was opposed to were unfeeling savages. Never in a million years did she imagine that word to be directed at her. She dedicated her life to the hunt, to stop the creatures who wandered the night in search of others to hurt senselessly, but reflecting on it now, she supposed that description fit her more than the ones she hunted.

She understood that whatever she could tell this girl, whatever apology she made was never going to be enough, never going to make up for the pain she had inflicted upon her. She was about to vocalize that, when the girl’s posture immediately shrunk back, eyes once again full of terror as she moved to hide behind Amelia.

Grace knew there was probably only one reason she’d do that, so without even second guessing, she turned her back on the woman who up until a moment ago had a dagger to her neck. Simon was struggling to get to his feet, eyes watering from the spray he turned his attention to the scene in front of him. He must have been focusing entirely on recovering as when he directed his gaze towards her, he looked confused as to why she was so close to presumably what he probably still considered the enemy.

Not wanting him to do, anything too drastic, she lifted both her arms, using her body to provide cover for the director and little vampire in an open display of pacifism

Simon’s confused stare compounded tenfold when she spoke, “Stand down Simon, she’s just a child.”

“That creature is not a child,” he growled, eyes refusing to look at Grace, instead still directed to the girl behind her, “Or have you forgotten what it did to me?”

“And what of what we did to her!? What we’ve done to countless others?” Grace stated emphasizing calling the girl by her instead of it, “If you are set on attacking them, you’ll have to go through me first.”

That definitely got his attention, the red of his eyes now focused entirely on her-- the rage on his face faltering just a little.

“You don’t understand Grace!” he cried desperately. “They’re lying, they can’t be right!”

“Think about it Simon, think about how many vampires we’ve run into that begged for their lives, that tried to run from us. Think about this past month-- you’ve been subsisting on bagged blood successfully, it's not much of a stretch to imagine that others can do so as well. We can’t keep ignoring the truth-- what is your problem? Why is it so hard for you to acknowledge this!?” she finished voice raising higher than intended.

“I…” he flinched and took a couple steps back, his shoulder shaking. In that moment he looked so small in her eyes, so absolutely lost. She was reminded of the first time they met, of the terrified and hesitant boy he used to be. All she wanted to do was rush over and reassure him that everything would be alright, but now was not the time for that. “I’m… If what they are saying is true then it's all over for me.” he finally replied.

That statement certainly gave her pause, what in the world was he talking about? If anything what Amelia told them should have given him more hope about his condition-- that he could live just as he had previously.

“What?” she huffed in a tone much more exasperated then angry.

Although her question was directed at her fiance, it was Amelia who answered. 

“He’s trying to tell you he’s turning feral.”

Head whipping around, she stared at Amelia incredulously. No that couldn't be the case! Of course she had noticed his struggle with his bloodlust-- but it wasn’t that bad… right? It wasn’t as if he was close to losing himself completely, even when she let him drink from her, he always was able to stop himself. 

“No,” she insisted, “He’s been doing fine, that’s not… he’s not… he’s been maintaining control!”

The director simply sighed, before gathering the still crying girl in her arms and making motions of leaving. “I can see you two have a lot to talk about, so I will leave you be… for now, but I will contact you later to ensure you won't be a problem. In the meantime let me offer you a piece of advice. You’re Apex, so I know you know how to put a vampire down and my recommendation is to put him down, he is likely too far gone.”

Grace didn't question how Amelia was going to contact them later, first and foremost in her mind was the director's 'advice.'  


“There has already been enough death-- no one else is dying, not under my watch,” she replied, before turning back to her partner. 

“I’m sure you’ll change your mind when it’s his fangs in your neck,” the director stated simply, before Grace heard her footsteps move away from them, and the sound of the girl’s crying grew quieter and quieter. 

Simon was refusing to look at her, shame burning bright on his face, it looked like he wasn’t even going to try and deny what Amelia was saying.

Grace waited until she could no longer hear the vampire girl’s crying before she spoke up once more.

“Is… is it true?”

Instead of speaking, her partner just collapsed onto the floor beneath him, his nails digging into the dirt slightly, she could see the start of tears welling up in his eyes. He looked so defeated, like it was too much of an effort to even speak.

An insidious cocktail of dread and vexation flooded her body at his response. “Talk to me!” she insisted. “Tell me what’s going on.”

“What do you want me to say?” he muttered, fingers clenching. “That whenever you get too close I have these… temptations. God Grace, you can’t even imagine the foul things that go through my mind when I drink from you.”

“Just because something is tempting doesn’t mean you’ll do it. Despite whatever you’re thinking when you drink, every time I’ve offered you my blood you’ve managed to stop yourself, that has to count for something.”

“Sure ,it might be a bit easier with you, but you’re only one person Grace, what about all the people who aren’t you? When I first entered the barn with all of those humans, I almost completely lost myself, there was just... So. Much. Blood.” He spat the last three words. 

“But… you didn’t hurt anyone in the barn.” she protested, grasping at whatever straws she could as the situation continued to spiral out of her control.

He sneered at her comment before letting out a defeated chuckle. “Yeah, maybe this time, but next time I may not be as lucky. You’re the one who’s insisting the director and her band of misfit nulls are right. And according to her I shouldn’t be feeling any of this, my hunger should be manageable… unless… unless...” he trailed off, breath hitching as he let out a choked sob. “Unless the problem is me.”

“That doesn’t mean we have to just give up… I can’t give up on you… not here, not like this.”

His crimson gaze moved to meet her’s in a slow tired manner. “You heard her, I’m already too far gone.”

Grace shook her head, “That’s not what she said, she said it was likely that is the case-- which means there still is a chance, and as long as there is a chance I’m going to keep trying.”

“You don’t understand.”

“Then make me understand!”

“I can’t keep this up!” he nearly yelled, “The urge is too strong. When it was just you and me, I thought that maybe it could be manageable, but after seeing all those other humans... The only reason I was able to stop myself from hurting those people in the barn was because I had just drank from you! if it wasn’t for that, if it wasn’t for you, I would have torn those humans apart and it would have been so glorious-- I can just imagine it. My teeth in their flesh, my claws pinning them still so they wouldn't struggle. I would just drink and drink and drink, and when I finished I would move into the town, onto the next target, onto the next prey.”

Grace’s eyes widened at the admission, but she kept her mouth shut. Simon was finally opening up to her about what he had been going through and she wanted him to continue.

And continue he did.

“It’s too much, the call of all of those pulsing hearts, beckoning me towards them. It’s like everything else dissolves away leaving me alone with the violence, until all I am is violence.” he drawled, his words tinged with a dangerous ferocity. “Even if Amelia is right, even if the average vampire isn’t a threat, I most certainly am… it’s... too late for me.”

From his clothes, dirty from the soil he laid in, to his eyes, puffy from the intense weeping which continued to rack his body, to his hair, shaken loose from his ponytail-- Her fiance was a total mess. 

Grace bit the bottom of her lip, eyebrows knitting. This was… troubling, to say the least. And if she were entirely honest with herself she did not know what to do. There was no denying what he was anymore, for as long and hard as she tried to avoid the truth, his admission proved to her one thing... he was a monster.

Just as she was, just as she’d been for over a decade.

Feeling her legs tremble, she allowed herself to slowly sink to sink to his level, the dirt of the floor soft and welcoming. Simon’s red gaze followed her carefully as she settled into a seated position beside him.

It was too hard to look into his eyes, to see herself reflected in them under the moonlight, so instead she gazed up at the sky.

The moon was huge, only maybe an hour before setting completely-- It was about to be a new day. Grace was never one to sit idly by and watch the world move around her-- she had always been too busy of a woman for that. But now with the weight of the world pressing down on her, it felt like all she could do was sit still.

“Do you…” she started, her voice at first a little too soft. “Do you think it’s too late for me too?” 

“What?”

She sighed, gathering all the gall she could before turning and looking at his perfectly wild face-- so full of conflicting desires.

“We’ve both done our fair share of heinous acts, you… the way you describe that hunger… as a pull for violence you can’t resist? It sounds awfully familiar to me. I know how restless you used to get when we hadn't been on a hunt for months, how excited you’d get for the kill-- I know because I felt it too. The thrill of catching prey, of having it in your sights before going for a finishing blow-- I never even considered if it could be a bad thing. I just always told myself I was a protector, a hunter not a killer, but I suppose there isn’t really much of a difference.”

“...Grace,” he whispered, pulling back, his eyes pacifying with worry. “Of course it’s not too late for you; there is so much more to you than that. You are so compassionate, you know I could never fathom how you managed to befriend every single member of the Apex. You are a powerhouse, an immense force of will, when you set your eyes on something it's like the world bends to accommodate you. You are like a beacon, which lifts up all in its presence…”

He paused for a moment, pale face darkening with a hint of a grey flush. “Whenever you are around everything is better.”

She was unsure of when her mouth fell open, but she closed it as soon as she became aware. That… was intense and entirely unexpected. 

“I...um… thank you? She muttered, and although she knew she was blushing, based on the way Simon's eyes zeroed in on her cheeks, It did not take her long to push her reaction down and regain her bearings. 

“Well, if that's what you think then is it so hard to believe that I see more in you as well? That you are smart and brave and loyal and too much of an endearing goof to be beyond hope-- that it’s not too late for you either?”

He froze so completely it was as if he could have been carved from stone. For a second she was worried she broke him. Simon’s face looked so horribly conflicted-- she could see denial there, a weariness that was too tired to try any longer. Beneath that she could see a familiar hunger, one which, now that she knew the extent of it, probably should have made her a bit more fearful to be so close to him. However beneath even that she could see a fragile spark of hope, and she was not about to let that go.

“I know it's been a hard month,” she started, lifting one of her hands to cup the side of his face. At first she was worried he’d flinch away, however when he instead closed his eyes and leaned into her touch she felt she had the go ahead to continue. “And I don’t doubt that it will get even harder before it gets easier-- but as long as we are both still trying to be better, as long as you are still trying, then we will make improvements.” 

He exhaled deeply, voice verging on melancholic. 

“Do you truly believe that?”

“I do, so don’t give up on me just yet”

Another pause, before he opened his eyes once more, focusing on her. Lips trembling before they pressed into a still line. "Okay.”

Grace smiled, large and wide, her thumb running across her finance’s cheek. She was very aware of how occasionally his eyes would dart to further down her arm, where she was still bleeding. However it also did not pass her attention that Simon made no motion to lunge for her wound, instead simply nuzzling into her palm, and breathing in her scent.

“Do I smell good?” she asked, curious as to his perceptions.

The whimper he let out in response was downright sinful, causing Grace to shudder so marvelously.

“You have no idea.”

Something about the tone of his voice caused her heart to skip a beat, and more than almost anything else, she wanted to lean in, to kiss him, to make him make more of those delightful sounds. 

...but that would be wrong-- their situation was already complicated enough without her deepening desire for him. 

After she almost lost him, she started to realize just how much more important he was to her than much of her own propaganda. And after the feeling of his touch lasted past the point he was even in her presence, she realized she wanted more from him.

However when she attempted to kiss him earlier, he shot her down so hard, it left her spinning. If she were being honest with herself she wasn't really expecting to kiss him when she did, but feeling him running his lips along the expanse of her neck set off something inside her and all she could think about was meeting his lips with hers. 

After he pulled away from her throat, she acted without even really thinking and after he kissed her back with gusto, she was overjoyed that even in confusing times, something was going right. However once she pulled away from him, she was met by a harsh realization. While struggling to put her feelings into words, to confess to him how she had been feeling, he quickly interrupted to say something that left her numb.

_ it's probably just a vampire thing… you know?  _

And in that moment as she felt very ashamed of herself. Of course… the only reason he must have tried to kiss her previously, the only reason he seemed to desire her then, was because of ‘some vampire thing.’ Looking back on it she was quick to realize that every time he made motions to kiss her, he was under the influence of her blood. He didn’t really want her, not truly, and he was trying to let her down as gently as he could. 

It was his new condition responsible for his increased wantonness, even now he was only being affectionate because she was bleeding right in front of him-- and she couldn’t take advantage of that.

So instead of offering something she wanted, she offered something she knew he wanted.

“If sitting in the car with me for the drive here was hard, would you like something to hold you over for our return trip? I mean, as you’ve probably noticed, I’m already bleeding.”

Simon pressed his eyes closed for a second, breathing out slowly before opening them. “Alright... just so it’s easier to get home.”

She nodded before twisting her arm slightly to the side, exposing the bloody wound to him for easy access.

His posture shifted immediately once the blood was within reach. He moved his mouth down, pressing it to the skin of her wrist right above the start of the gash.

His hot breath on her caused a shiver down her spine. Those lips were as soft as ever as he trailed them down to her cut, he was hesitant at first, as if he were still trying to debate with himself. However whatever reservations he must have had vanished the second he took a whiff of her laceration. From her angle she could just barely make out his tongue tracing one of his fangs before quickly darting out for a tentative lick. Once the blood touched his tongue he groaned softly before returning to lap at the slash with a fevered intensity. While his fangs occasionally brushed up against her skin, they never pressed deep enough to draw fresh blood.

Despite this not being the first time he had drank from her, this was the first time she had a good view of him while he was doing so.

She could see the dilation of his pupils, blown so wide-- almost cat-like in a way. How they would roll back on particularly long licks. The small almost inaudible gasps he gave between breaths. 

It was too much.

Turning away, she redirected her eyes to the ground. It felt strange to watch Simon indulge in her-- like she was seeing something she wasn’t meant to. And considering he made it clear he did not desire her in that way, it felt downright invasive to stare when he was so clearly debauched. Mind going a mile a minute, she barely registered him pulling away.

“...Grace?”

Her gaze was back on his in a second.

He had let go of her arm, allowing her to bring it back to her side. The tips of red tinged fangs peeking out from beneath his upper lip, catching the light, framing his slightly agape mouth formed into a frown, “I… did I hurt you?”

Oh.. oh no

Bringing a small smile to her face she attempted to reassure him. “Don’t worry, you didn’t hurt me-- I just…thought you’d want some privacy.” she tried to explain, while attempting to keep a blush from her face and failing miserably. “You just looked so…”

“Feral?” he supplied, turning away in shame.

“No,” she snapped back immediately, “I dunno, focused or something… like in a trance…” she paused, examining her partner more closely, he pulled into himself and in that moment looked to be more concentrated on getting away from her than continuing to drink..

While he had certainly appeared in a daze while feeding, his disposition almost immediately shifted when he thought he hurt her. Not super surprising considering the two previous times she offered him blood he was able to stop himself as well. He had mentioned it was a bit easier being around her than other humans… maybe there was something too that?

“What is it about me?” she asked without thinking.

He lifted an eyebrow at her question, “what are you talking about?”

Picking her words more carefully she explained, “Amelia defined becoming feral as being consumed by hunger, but you literally just stopped yourself from drinking like thirty seconds ago, and, that’s like, the opposite of that… Earlier, you mentioned that it was easier being in my presence as compared to the people in the barn… why is that? How could it possibly be easier to drink from me and maintain control, but almost lose it at just being in the same room as others? There must be a reason.”

He shrugged, “I’m not sure… I just don’t want to hurt you.”

She raised her eyebrows inquisitively “And what? You did want to hurt those people?”

“No!” he spoke a bit too loudly, before taking a deep breath and calming himself down. “Of course not, it’s just…ugh, I don’t know… for some reason it was just easier to categorize them in my mind as prey.” he finished, clearly a bit agitated that he was unable to express the cause.

“Hmm,” she mused, contemplating her next words by blowing a raspberry in the air. “Well that’s good news then, if not all people immediately register as a target, then your feral behavior is not indiscriminate-- which means if we can find out what triggers it, we can find out better coping strategies.”

Simon opened his mouth to say something, but just before a sound came out he stopped himself, redirecting his eyes back to the ground, “...I suppose, it's worth a try.”

“Great! We have a way forward.” Standing up from the ground and dusting off her pants she reached down to pull him up as well “Let's go home, before one of Amelia’s comes poking back around here.” She reasoned, he nodded and the two of them made their way back to the car.

Once they were inside the vehicle, she wasted no time getting them back on the freeway for the long ride home. Simon decided to sit in the back this time in an attempt to put just a little bit more distance between the two of them, and Grace completely understood. She was a bit worried about the drive home considering how difficult she now knew the first trip was on him, but luckily he seemed tired enough to quickly drift off to sleep during the first hour.

Alone with her thoughts, a warm cup of coffee, and an extremely long night, she drove. While she did get an answer to the initial questions which brought them both out here, she was now left with a million more, much harder questions…

First and foremost in her mind, what she was going to do with the rest of the Apex.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter was jut getting wayyy too long, so I decided to split it in two, so now the fic length is looking like 7 chapters long.
> 
> As always please leave a comment, wishing y'all the best :)


	6. Fallout

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grace has two long overdue conversation, and Simon starts a couple exercises in control.

“I know you are all wondering where we’ve been.” Grace started, looking upon the faces of the various Apex members gathered in front of her. Everyone had made it out-- not too surprising considering she had called an emergency meeting.

Looking upon the group, she saw all of the eager faces of those she had taken under the wing hang on her every word-- this wasn’t going to be easy.

“Yeah!” Todd called from the crowd, “Where have you been, and where is Simon?”

“Simon and I returned from a long trip a week ago and he still needs time to rest, so for this meeting it will just be me.”

Some confused chatter worked its way through the crowd, as the hunters started at each other, then back at her.

“We’ve discovered some new information, about nulls, about vampires, which changes everything… It would seem that unlike our previous conceptions, most vampires are not innately malicious."

Grace was prepared for the rest of the Apex to immediately protest, to lash out and demand an explanation, however instead they all continued to look up at her, appearing more befuddled than anything else. Most of the newer members, those who had joined in the last year or so, who were still training directly under her and had not even seen combat just nodded along, as if it were any old update.

Those more in the front, who had been with her the longest looked incredibly conflicted at her words, but none of them dared to interrupt her

“That’s not to say there aren’t any dangerous vamps, just that there are way less of them then I have believed previously, and so… I’ve made the decision to disband the Apex. I know some of you moved out here to help with the operation, so I have prepared each and every one of you a severance package I’m sure will cover any cost.”

A few of her hunters gasped, and many of them looked up at her incredulously, but it was Lucy who spoke up first, “...But don’t you still need help with the ones that are dangerous? Why are we disbanding completely?”

Grace sighed, considering everything she had done, she did owe them an explanation, but did she really want to tell them that they had innocent blood on their hands? That she plucked them from their lives and made them endanger themselves for a false crusade?

She supposed it was better than leaving them in the dark, So she told them everything-- from Simon's transformation to their run in with the hunter who inspired the Apex in the first place.

Lucy just stood there staring at her superior with her single eye, and when Grace had finished she calmly asked.

“...You’re saying everything we’ve worked for was pointless? That all the good we’ve done was a lie?” the one eyed girl spoke carefully.

Grace bit her lip, eyebrows knitting together before she sighed and nodded her head. “I’m sorry.”

At her nod the crowd erupted in discourse: People yelling at her to explain more, people yelling at them to be quiet, and even more people just starting at her wordlessly.

But no voice was more resonant than Lucy’s

“I gave my life to you!” she spoke, no louder than any other, but holding a sort of reverence in her words that drew all others around her into silence. Soon there were only hushed whispers as Lucy continued, “I dropped out of school for you, I moved away from my family for you, I lost an eye for you, and all you can say is sorry!?”

“I… I’m sure you’ll find the money will cover all of that and more if--”

“I don’t care about your money, I’m talking about my life!” She nearly screamed, tears streaming down from her right eye.

“I know…” Grace started, before falling silent for a moment, “And If you don’t ever want to see me again I will understand that.”

Lucy stared at her for only a couple more seconds before she closed her singular eye and sighed-- without another word she turned her back on Grace and began to push her way past other members.

Her leaving seemed to prompt many others to do the same, some giving Grace harsh stares or even harsher words before following Lucy out.

After ten minutes of shifting, the room which previously held almost one hundred hunters now only contained ten.

Grace knew this was going to be hard, but watching those she had spent years training walking out of her life so quickly left her feeling unmitigatedly empty. She could feel the start of tears in her eyes, but she pushed them down with everything she had in an attempt to still stay strong in front of those few who decided to stay. 

However when Todd took a step forward and spoke his truth, the tears came anyways.

“I’m not saying I’m not mad at you, because I am, very much so… but, thank you for telling us.”

Exhaustion ran through her so suddenly, she felt she had to sit down, moving to the nearest empty chair she let her body collapse, throwing her head back and closing her eyes. “I owed the truth to you all.”

“Still, I’m guessing it wasn’t easy for you either.”

Sniffling, she brought her head down to her hands, wiping at her tears furiously before turning and looking at Todd.

Alex and Lindsey were framing him, Alex looking upon her with a different combination of indignation and genuine concern, while Lindsey was almost impossible to read from beneath her patented sunglasses.

“I’m so sorry I failed you,” she nearly whispered. “I’m so sorry I’ve failed everyone with this pointless war.”

Alex and Lidsey looked at each other for a moment before Lindsey nodded and took a step forward to ask, “Grace, can the three of us talk to you alone?”

The ex-leader of the Apex turned her head inquisitively before agreeing and making a plan to meet up with them in an hour in the upstairs annex. She then spent the next thirty or so minutes talking with the other remaining ex-Apex members. Although most of her cohort had left her, there was an albeit small contingent that did not seem ready to turn their backs on her so completely-- and for that she was infinitely grateful.

They couldn’t be the Apex anymore, but perhaps they could be something better, something that was actually helpful to those around them. 

A bit encouraged by this turn of events, Grace bid goodbye to them, promising that they would come together for another meeting soon, and left for the upper annex. When she arrived she was surprised to find Alex, Todd, and Lindsey already waiting for her.

When she entered Lindsey was the first to speak up. “So you said that most vamps are able to live normal lives? That being turned isn't a big deal?”

When Grace nodded, Lindsey did something the Curly haired woman did not expect in the slightest, her ex-subordinate took off her large sunglasses, the ones she wore regardless of time of day, to reveal a pair of red eyes beneath.

Grace gasped, and for a second it looked as if both Alex and Todd were about to jump in front of Lindsey to shield her from a potential assault, but when it became obvious their ex-leader was going to do no such thing they quickly stood down.

After a moment of silence Grace finally found spoke. “How long?”

Lindsey frowned, “Almost a year now… I thought that maybe I was a fluke, that somehow my ability to hold onto myself was abnormal in some way, but I guess after hearing from you, that’s just how it usually is.”

“We’re sorry we never told you or Simon, we just…” Todd trailed off.

“You did nothing wrong,” Grace validated, not wanting them to feel at all ashamed. “There is no telling what would have happened if you did… you three took care of each other-- and for that you should be proud.” Walking up to Lindsey, she reached out to put a hand on her shoulder and gave her one of her brightest smiles, “I should be the one apologizing to you. It wasn’t right of me to make you so fearful for your safety. 

The three of them smiled back, and for a moment everything seemed alright, before Lindsey spoke once more to ask,

“You said Simon was changed as well… how is he doing?”

Grace’s smile faltered just a little bit before she answered. “Refusing to leave his room, he's worried he's going to hurt someone.”

Alex nodded, “Lindsey was the same before we realized that not much actually changed, maybe we can talk with him, help reassure him everything is going to be alright?”

Grace bit her lip slightly before sighing and shaking her head, “He’s… having a much more difficult time adjusting, especially around humans.”

While Alex and Todd looked a bit confused, Lindsey spoke without hesitation, “Maybe I can speak with him then? He won’t be tempted to drink from me.”

It was a nice thought, but knowing Simon she doubted he would take her up on it. 

“I’ll let him know you offered.”

The rest of their conversation was much more casual, as her ex-hunters opted to share with her a more lighthearted story about a Corgi that Alex adopted. They had a good laugh as Lindsey mentioned that now the Corgi was the king of the apartment the three of them shared. All in all it was a pretty positive interaction, and despite the burning guilt still present in Grace’s gut, she was actually able to enjoy herself.

Bidding the three of them goodbye, she briskly walked to her next destination.

She paused in front of the room, fiddling with her keys until she found the right one. Unlocking the door, she walked in.

Simon was sitting at his desk, painting one of his figurines. He must have been either really entrenched in his project or really dreading her update, because he didn’t even look up when greeting her.

“How’d it go?”

“Some took it better than others,” She shrugged, trying her best to hide how stressful the whole endeavor actually was. “Maybe ten or so are still willing to talk with us.”

He stopped his brush mid-stroke before lowering his head, “You mean talk with you, I doubt any of them want to talk with me.”

“Well you’d be wrong about that-- Alex, Lindsey and Todd asked to meet with you specifically,” she countered.

“And you told them of my condition?”

“Yup, just like you asked.”

“And they still wanted to see me?”

“Is that really so hard to believe?”

Grumbling he deflected her question by asking something completely different, “Well, I’m assuming you told them that I couldn’t.”

Crossing her arms she replied, “I told Alex and Todd you couldn’t, but you might want to take Lindsey up on her offer.”

“You know I can’t be around any other humans Grace,”

“Well lucky you, apparently Lindsey isn’t human anymore.” she spoke. 

When he swiveled around on his stool, mouth agape, she had to hold back a laugh at how bewildered he looked. Dozens of emotions flashed across his face before his mouth eventually set into a firm line, 

“... I’ll think about it.” Yeah, that usually meant no. 

Walking over to the edge of his bed she plopped down and let out a loud sigh. “So how have you been, eat anything today? She asked, examining her fiance closely for his reaction.

His posture grew slightly more rigid, but he otherwise did not change all that much, “Okay as I can be I guess, and yeah, I had a couple bags earlier,” he responded simply, setting down the figure for inspection.

Grace patted the empty space on the bed next to her, and although he was not currently looking her way, she knew he had heard her offer. Leaving his figure to dry, he glanced up at her then at the spot next to her before making his way over and sitting down.

“I’m sorry you had to break the news to the Apex alone, I would have been there with you if I could.” he lamented, looking down at the floor.

“I know,” she reassured him, “I but I am the leader, so it’s my responsibility to end this once and for all, and I'd much rather know you’re safe than to have you with me at all times.”

He snorted, “You mean that others are safe from me?” self loathing evident in his voice, he glanced back up at her an unspoken question in his gaze.

_Are we doing this again?_

Instead of answering him directly, she just gestured for him to open his mouth, and reluctantly he did so.

Ever since they had gotten back from the barn a week ago Grace had begun to implement daily exercises in control. They started out simple, just her spending extended periods of time in close proximity to him, but the last two days they had stepped it up into something more challenging.

His mouth open, she quickly brought one of her fingers to the point of one of his fangs, pricking herself slightly before withdrawing. With a drop of blood welling up on her finger and the scent of it filling the room around her Simon closed both his mouth and eyes and froze like a statue. 

So far he only lasted up to thirty minutes before giving in and asking if he could have a taste, but today Grace was surprised to find him clear that mark by ten whole minutes before he even said anything to her.

“So Lindsey is a vampire?” he asked, eyes still closed, clearly trying to talk to distract himself.

“Mhmm, crazy right?” she responded, “Her, Todd, and Alex hid it from us for a whole year.”

“It’s a good thing they did,” He stated shamefully. “I’m sure I wouldn’t have reacted the best, had they let it slip.”

“...Yeah, I like to think I wouldn’t have overreacted, but I suppose there is no way to know,” she confessed. “But luckily that didn’t happen and the three of them are all in one piece.”

“Considering she was still attending meetings this year, I suppose she isn’t finding it too hard to be around humans?”

“Nah, she seemed to be pretty in control of herself.”

Opening his crimson eyes, he looked over at the curly haired woman next to him, gaze only momentarily darting down to her pricked finger, “...So it really is just me who’s a problem.”

Grace frowned at his resigned tone. Although he had stopped denying the crimes that they had committed and accepted the need to change, he had recently been very melancholic and ashamed. While she supposed that was better than outright denial or anger, it was starting to get to her how defeated he had been as of late.

“I mean, yeah, but that’s why we are doing this now,” she replied, waving her bloody finger around, although the bleeding had stopped, there was still a hint of redness which clung to her, as did the eyes of her partner, his gaze following around the blood for a quick second before he forced himself to look away. “To learn to be better… together.”

The edges of his eyes creased slightly at her words, “Of course… I’m sorry to have brought it up.”

Playfully punching him in the arm with her non-bloodied hand she chuckled. “No need to apologize, you know I'm here for you.”

A light grey blush found its way to his cheeks while he gently rubbed the area where she had touched him.

Smiling she looked down to check her timer, 45 minutes, that was a new record. Simon was clearly still a bit discouraged by his lack of control, but it was hard to argue with such a marked improvement-- it gave her hope, if they kept trying at it, he would eventually be able to return to a semi-normal life.

“Well looks life you passed your previous record by fifteen whole minutes, I’d say that’s good for today,” she encouraged, lifting her finger a couple centimeters from his lips, “You can take a taste now if you want.”

She expected him to protest, so when instead his hand came up to cradle her’s, bringing the finger closer, she had to resist a grin. It was good to see him starting to feel a bit more comfortable with their arrangement.

However he only took a quick lick of the pad of her finger before letting go and pulling back abruptly.

Concerned, she moved her a bit closer, putting her hand on his shoulder comfortingly. “Are you okay?”

He nodded briskly, “Yeah… sorry, that affected me more than I thought it would.”

“Those two blood bags not enough?” Grace inquired, “It's been about a week since you’ve drinken from me so you can take a small taste if you want. I’m sure I can spare some of my clearly superior blood,” she bragged semi-jokingly, taking initiative by scooting back and lounging down on the bed, neck bared for him, voice verging on teasing, “Come on and live a little, I think you deserve a reward for making such a marked improvement~”

“Seems a bit indulgent to reward only fifteen extra minutes,” 

“Small steps Simon, that's how change happens.”

“...” 

When he didn’t respond, she knew she was going to need to change up her tactics. “How about this?” she prompted, “You come over here, and we time how long you’re able to resist from biting, might be a good new exercise.”

When only a moment later he was on her body pressed down against her and lips already at her throat, she silently cheered.

“Just a small taste,” he reaffirmed, lips gliding along the expanse of her skin while speaking.

“Mhmm,” she replied, one hand hand settling to grip his left hip bone, the other reaching for her phone to set the timer. “Alright timer is going, let's see how long you can last.” she stated while trying her best to ignore how much she missed the soft feeling of his lips.

Through his uneven breath she was able to hear a whimper. Nuzzling into her neck he settled into what little stillness he could manage.

She let out a sigh which verged on relief. She really missed this, his weight on hers. Why was everything so complicated? Why couldn’t just be them, like this, for more than a brief moment.

When his lips settled back on her neck, she had to suppress a sound she knew was going to be embarrassing. The touch was so gentle it could have almost been a kiss, until the points of his fangs began to trace lightly across the area, pressing with enough force for her to feel it but not enough to break the skin.

With him so close it was impossible for her not to hear the shamelessly sensual sounds he was producing, as one of his hands began to move up and down her figure.

She squeaked, and nearly pulled away, only stopped by the incredibly vulnerable mewl Simon let out when she began to move. Freezing she did now know what to do, she oh so desperately wanted Simon to keep doing what he was doing, but on the other hand, she didn’t want him to regret anything later. 

Her mind was made up when he began to drag his tongue across her neck. Moaning, both her hands came up to grab fist-fulls of his long hair holding him in place, silently begging him to keep going.

A deep rumble reverberated in his chest and Grace could almost feel the vibrations coming from him. The cut he proceeded to make was quite small, so small Grace barely even felt it. While dragging his fangs he must have nicked her slightly, as all of a sudden his mouth was latched to a small expanse of skin right at the base of her throat by her collar bone.

He still wasn’t biting, just sucking at the already made wound only stopping to take a breath or give muted growls. Despite how wantonly he pursued her blood, he was being very cautious to not take too much, and Grace was shocked and proud that he was able to keep himself from outright bit her.

She definitely wasn’t complaining, the combination of suction and sloppy open mouth kisses he was giving her neck was very pleasing to her, despite her growing guilt at giving in so easily.

After a minute, Simon’s fervor began to lessen, as he slowed his assault on her cut and gradually shifted so that they were face to face.

Lengthy strands of blonde cascaded down around Grace, blocking her view of anything except Simon: his long face and high cheekbones, the ever so slight amount of peach fuzz on his chin, his stunning red gaze, which she instantly understood were directed at her lips.

She knew not who moved closer to the other, but before she even realized it, they were mere millimeters apart

“...Simon?” She asked, lips so close to his, they touched as she spoke.

He pulled back away from her so fast it was almost as if she blinked and he was gone. With him completely out of her vision she took one short moment to stare a the ceiling above her, before pushing herself up into a seated position on the bed. 

He retreated to the edge of the bed where he was sitting previously, even though his head was turned away from her, she could still hear him clearly. “I’m sorry.”

She tried her best to laugh it off, to pretend that she didn’t want to continue, that it was no big deal that he pulled away, but there was a notable silence between them before she gathered the gall to speak up.

“It’s not a problem,” she responded with little more than an awkward laugh.

When Simon turned back to her it was like he could see right through her, and perhaps that was why he looked so dismayed, he opened his mouth to say something but then immediately closed it, seeming to think through something before he spoke.

“...You don’t have to marry me,”

The look on her face in response must have been something, because he did a double take. Quick to clarify what he meant he continued. “We’re no longer hunters, there isn’t even an Apex to inherit your fortune anymore, so there really isn't a reason to go through with the marriage.”

Somehow the possibility that she no longer needed to marry Simon was furthest from her mind, however now that he brought it up she wondered how she had not even considered that. He was right, she originally proposed in the case she was killed and Simon needed to continue the Apex in her stead. But now with no Apex...

“Uhh… I suppose?” she responded without even really thinking.

“Okay,” he nodded before she was even aware of what she agreed to, “I’m glad we are on the same page.”

Her mouth shut into a line. She wanted so desperately to tell him no, to say that there was still a reason for them to still be together— but put so much on the spot, nothing came to mind quick enough before Simon stood up from the bed, walked across the room and sat back in his chair faced away from her, paintbrush already in hand.

He clearly wanted to be alone, and she was not going to argue— getting up from the bed, she swiftly moved out of Simon's room. Closing the door behind her she leaned against it and slowly lowered her body to the ground. 

It was terrifying how much she was losing-- the Apex, her convictions, even her marriage. How much more was she going to have to give up?

Perhaps she was there for an hour or perhaps only five minutes, but after an amount of time that was unbearably long to Grace, she was brought back to herself by a soft vibration in her pocket. Finishing out her phone, she saw *No Caller ID* listed, frowning slightly she answered the call and brought it to her ear.

“Hello?”

 _“Grace Monroe?”_ a familiar British voice answered, causing Grace to immediately stand to her feet in surprise. “We need to talk.”

“Amelia?!” Grace asked incredulously before taking a several steps away from Simon’s door, no need to freak him out until she assessed what the older woman was calling her about, “How’d you get my number?”

The woman on the other end let out a loud sigh, _“You two geniuses yelled each other's name several times last we met. I have some intel on the Apex, so it wasn't hard to piece together who you were. It was quite interesting to learn that one of the leaders of the Apex had been turned, you all must be masters of compartmentalizing.”_

Ignoring her last statement Grace spoke, “The Apex has been disbanded, you can reassure your group that there is nothing to fear from us anymore.”

_“Forgive me if I don’t believe you until I can verify this information.”_

“Feel free, in the meantime, I know it doesn’t pay back the years of harm we’ve done, but I want to help financially support your organization, I want to learn to atone… like how you did.”

There was a pause on the other end before Amelia answered, _“I’ll be in contact about wiring money over, but I also want to be very clear. You want to give money to my cause, fine I’ll take it, but I am not your vehicle for redemption, and I do not have the time or resources to hold your hand while you are still considered an active threat by my community. To be honest I do not want to see you or Simon Laurent ever again.”_

Grace frowned, she supposed that it was always a possibility that Amelia might not want anything to do with either of them, but still, it was harsh to hear her say so. Steadying her voice she replied, “That’s fine, I completely understand… there is one thing I still wanted to ask you.”

A deep sigh came from the other end followed by a curt question, _“What?”_

“You said you don’t remember me, but I remember you… when I was ten years old you stopped my mother after she was turned and attacked my father, you said she had gone feral… was… was there any chance she could have been saved?”

_“Listen, I’ve hurt a lot of people, and to be honest I don’t even remember this particular incident… but… if it happened more than six years ago then I was a very different person then, one who attacked first and asked questions second. So I would say there is a high chance that yes, with enough effort and support, your mother might have been able to learn to live peacefully with those around her.”_

Grace closed her eyes and inhaled deeply-- she had already guessed as much. From all her time spent with Simon, seeing his struggle and improvement, she understood that there was a high possibility that if either her or her father knew what to do they could have prevented the tragedy that befell the three of them and truly helped her mother. However suspecting and knowing were two different things, and hearing Amelia say this to her awakened a deep sorrow in Grace that she thought she had long since repressed.

“So then there is hope for Simon too.” she spoke out loud. It was not a question, nor was it particularly addressed toward Amelia, however that did not stop the British woman from responding.

_“Technically, but a lifetime of bloodshed is not countered easily. I doubt your mother had as much blood on her hands than either you or your lover do.”_

Grace bit back a less than nice comment at that. Even though Amelia was indubitably more knowledgeable in these matters than her, she was more knowledgeable about Simon, and she was confident in his ability to be better… in both their abilities to be better.

_“However, speaking of this Simon of yours, a contact of mine has been trying to seek an audience with the second in command of the Apex for some time now. Seeing as the two of you are presumably less hostile toward other vampires, perhaps he’d actually be willing to meet with them.”_

There was a vampire who had been looking for Simon? Was it someone looking for revenge? After everything they’ve done it wouldn't be out of the question to have many vampires who had grievances with them... She supposed there was no harm in asking. 

“Who are they, are they part of your organization?”

Amelia chuckled before replying, _“No, in fact I hesitate to even call them a friend, we have had some unfortunate run-ins in the past and neither of us particularly care for the other, but I do owe her a favor and I believe setting up a meeting with him would suffice.”_

“Okay... well give me her name, I guess, and I’ll pass it over to Simon.”

When Amelia answered with a name that Grace had not heard in years, she almost dropped her phone in surprise.

_“Her name is Samantha.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all hope you've been well. Thanks for reading and please leave me your thoughts/feelings on the chapter. We are coming up close to the last chapter, I'm considering writing a little epilogue chapter once the fic is over, but that's still up in the air.


	7. A Tent on a Roof

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon speaks with Samantha, and Grace enjoys a night in a tent

Simon was given a number on a slip of paper-- One that Grace looked incredibly worried handing to him. It took him three weeks before he called it.

_Ring… Ring_

The first week he was too angry to even consider it, he had stuffed it in his room’s trash can, but by the end of the week he found himself digging back through it looking for the slip.

_Ring… Ring_

The second week he had it pinned to the cork-board above his desk, so that he could see it every time he was working on one of his figurines.

_Ring… Ring_

The third week held many nearly attempted calls, and yet, it was only on the last day before the new week that he was able to go through with it.

_“Hello?...... Simon, I presume?”_

The voice was so familiar it left him feeling almost a decade younger. Tears already starting to build behind his eyes, he gritted out his instructions before they had a chance to fall.

“Tonight. Midnight. The Place You Abandoned Me.”

The line was silent for just long enough for Simon to wonder if she was even going to reply.

_“Alright… I’ll see you there.”_

The line went dead shortly after, and Simon took a large gulp of air before setting his phone down, he briefly considered telling Grace what he was up to, but decided against it-- there was already enough on her shoulders. She had been more than pulling her own weight since their return from the barn, from the disbanding of the Apex, to the smaller support meetings she’d run with their remaining members, to performing their control exercises in the evenings.

Suffice to say he had been feeling as little more than a burden-- and this was one thing he knew he could do on his own.

And so after the sun had long since set and Grace had gone to sleep, he snuck out of his room. Luckily she had long since stopped locking him in when she was gone, something he had insisted she do during the first week of their return, but she clearly had issues with. It didn’t take her long after to ‘forget’ to do it on the regular before stopping entirely.

Her faith in him would have been reassuring had he more faith in himself.

Exiting the manor, he took a quick moment to appreciate the chill of the night air and the scene of city lights before him. It had been a long while since he had been outside, and with the various sights and smells surrounding him he could feel just the smallest hint of joy fill him.

Of course it didn’t last long when he reminded himself of why he was out in the first place. 

When he got into one of Grace’s many cars, keys for it on the seat, he did not need to plug in his destination into the navigational system. He knew where he was going and how to get there-- he never forgot where he had first met Grace, where he had been left behind by Samantha.

He kept all of his windows rolled shut, no need for all of those temping human smells to distract him from his mission. Gripping the wheel he drove.

It was a little over an hour before he arrived at his destination. An old dilapidated building, one that he and Samantha had temporarily taken up residence many years ago. It looked like whoever owned the place still hadn't torn it down, but boarded it up. As he walked up to the door, his hand lay softly on the splintery wood of it. 

Still as he could be, he considered his options; should he just tear down the wooden blockade and wait for Samantha in the exact room she had left him in? Did he even want to step foot in that building again? Perhaps he should just wait outside?

While lost in thought he did not notice the soft footfalls behind him coming to a slow halt, a voice he knew spoke softly, breaking him of his trance.

“Simon?”

He turned around quickly to find a woman perhaps only ten or so feet away from him-- it had been about three years since his last run in with her, and while he had certainly changed a lot since then she did not look much different.

Wearing a plain light blue button up beneath a magenta vest and ascot, her short platinum blonde hair framed the sides of her face. Those striking yellow eyes slitted down the middle inspected him cautiously, stopping when meeting his eyes. She squinted a bit, causing Simon to realize she must have not been informed that he was turned, however before long a very hesitant smile graced her features.

“You’ve grown taller,” she commented, seemingly purposefully dancing around his other more prominent change, “It’s been a while.”

“Not long enough,” he spat, folding his arms.

“You’re the one who invited me here,” she pointed out. “Why did you ask to meet if you still didn’t want to see me?”

He frowned, she certainly got him there, why did he invite her out here? Why did he want to see her? What was he even looking for?

“You…” he started accusingly, before taking a deep breath and calming himself down before saying his piece. “...After you abandoned me, I couldn’t believe it-- I just couldn’t understand why. Why you took me in, why you said you’d protect me and then just leave--”

“Simon I--” she tried to explain before he interrupted.

“What?!” he nearly growled, his nails sharpening just a little in anger, “Are you seriously going to deny it? Or are you going to let me finish?” 

He could feel his teeth throb, although Samantha did not smell at all appetizing, the idea of having her ichor on his hands, of tearing into her and ending her awful existence was an appealing one. 

Samantha shut her mouth. Swirls of emotion passed through her golden gaze, although it looked like she wanted to speak, she kept her mouth closed, letting him continue.

“Grace already had an explanation prepared, Vampires were just foul creatures, who have no love for humans or their safety-- that you must have just been using me, that I wasn’t important enough because I wasn’t your kind… But now I understand what being a vampire means. For the longest time I believed you didn’t have a choice, that it was just in your nature to be cruel… but nature has nothing to do with it does it? That was just all you.”

Pausing for a moment he took a step closer to the closest thing he had ever had to a mother.

“How could you have just left me?”

The second he gave her a moment to speak, her answer came swiftly. 

“I know you're upset, and I’m sure no apology would fully satisfy you, knowing you, you probably would prefer to hear how I suffered from that decision. I could tell you how much I’ve come to regret it, how over the years I’ve heard of your rise to power, seen the damage that Apex riff raff of yours left in their wake. I could tell you of my disgrace to my own people, how long time allies of mine turned their backs on me once they learned of my involvement with you. You won’t believe the kind of reputation you gain when one of the most dangerous hunters in the area blames you for their crusade.” She hummed while side-eying him.

“Whatever they did to you, you deserved it,” Simon seethed in response, baring his fangs.

Despite his threatening stance, despite his clear desire to hurt her, she merely rolled her eyes, “I can see you’re as vindictive as ever. Are you going to try and fight me? You know you can’t win.”

Eye twitching, he knew she was right, the last time he tried to fight her was when he was eighteen and that had gone quite… poorly to say the least. “I’m not going to fight you… Grace and I… we’re done with that kind of life.” he responded in as even of a tone as he could manage. But as his insides continued to boil, he had to divert a grand portion of his energy to stop himself from instigating anything. Despite his many mixed emotions about Samantha, he was trying to be a better person, for Grace, for himself, for all the people he had hurt-- and that did not involve getting into a fight with his ex-guardian. Instead he took another deep breath and let the tension from his shoulders fall. 

He was trying to correct his violent tendencies, not give into them.

Her eyes widened slightly when he stood down. Blinking a couple times in disbelief before a small sly smile spread its way across her face.

“My, my, it seems that you have indeed changed your tune,” she mused with a smirk, “Amelia didn’t tell me much about what was going on just that you might have been willing to meet with me. I didn’t expect you to be so… mellow, nor so inhuman. Had I known turning you would have caused this new insight I would have done so years ago.” 

A low, dangerous rumble originated from his chest, he knew she was trying to provoke him-- to test his reactions, he was not going to give her the satisfaction of proving her right, so instead he just glared at her. “Did you just come to antagonize me?” he gritted from behind closed teeth.

At his lack of a hostile response, Samantha finally approached him completely, only a couple feet away she answered, “No, _mon chérie,_ I came to apologize.”

“Wha-?” he looked at her incredulously, never in a million years had he imagined that she was going to apologize, she never had before-- it was almost too strange for Simon to hear that word come from her mouth. 

“I said, that I‘m sorry” she stated, voice with a tint of exasperation at having to repeat herself before letting out a sigh “When I first heard you and Grace launched an attack on one of Amelia’s bases, I feared the worst, not many challenge that woman and make it out alive… imagine that, I was scared for you, my enemy, and enemy of my people. When I learned you survived that encounter, I knew I had to talk with you again. I understand I can’t make up for what I did, I’m sure you recognize that feeling better than most, but perhaps I can be helpful to you now.”

“You think it's that easy!?” he asked in a huff, turning his back on her completely, and looking up at the night sky above him in an attempt to hide the start of tears. “How could you possibly be helpful to me?”

“I am under no impression that reconnecting with you was going to be anything close to easy-- regardless I am willing to try.” she spoke in a tone more tender than he expected. “I’m sure you still have a lot to learn about my... our kind-- I can’t imagine Amelia gave you many answers.”

The offer was tempting, Simon knew it would be nice to have someone with a bit more vampiric knowledge guide him, but after years of rage directed at her, he was so very hesitant to put any amount of trust in the other. He was silent for over a minute contemplating his response. He knew who she was, did he really want her back in his life? Did he really want to set himself up for disappointment like that again, what if she decided he wasn’t worth it and left him a second time, could he honestly handle that? A deep resentment burned its way through him and his fists clenched at the thought. Breathing in and out, he attempted to placate his anger.

He was so focused on returning to his senses he did not notice the person standing on the opposite side of the street staring in their direction.

Samantha was the first to react, taking a couple steps passed him so that she was within view once more, before turning slightly back to him and saying, “Looks like we have an audience, perhaps we should bring this inside, best not to be too suspicious while humans are watching.”

But her words seemed so far away, and Simon was concentrating on said human still starting at them. He looked young, maybe in his late teens, loitering around, perhaps looking for something. Simon knew not who this person was, but already so wound up, all he could care about was the inviting smell which was slowly drifting it’s way towards him…

To say there had been no improvement in Simon’s self control in the last month would be doing his and Grace’s exercises a disservice. While he had improved much when it came to Grace, or even other ex-members of the Apex who would come and talk to him through his door occasionally, he still found his self control lacking when it came to complete strangers. And this young man was no exception.

His emotions already so high, and violent impulse already triggered from his encounter with Samantha, he could not help but take a few steps forward towards the boy, already salivating at the idea of how he’d taste.

Samantha observed his movements, confused for a split second, until she looked into his eyes, and presumably saw how close he was to snapping.

Quickly stepping in front of him, both her arms landed on his shoulders, her grip tight, nails extended biting into his skin slightly, probably in an attempt to ground him. Turning over her shoulder she shouted at the boy to leave along with some line that this was private property. The boy did not ask about twice before turning around and speed walking away.

Simon hissed at the woman holding him still, in that moment he almost forgot why he was even here, his mind clouded by the delicious human who decided to walk down an abandoned street at night, who oh so graciously decided put themselves in a position where he could be a part of the havoc Simon wanted to desperately to bring.

However as the human moved further and further away, he was slowly brought back to himself and realized that Samantha moved beyond simply holding him, and had pulled him into a tight embrace.

Stuttering for a moment, he gasped, “l… let go of me,” he intended for it to sound threatening, to really make sure Samantha understood he meant business, however instead it came out as nothing more than a quiet whimper.

She immediately listened, pulling back and looking him directly into his red eyes, a deep sadness and concern reflected in hers. 

“You…” she began before pausing to contemplate her words carefully, “Seems like you’re… having difficulties with your transition.” 

“You don’t need to patronize me,” he spat, shaking off the last of her grip and taking a step away, “I know what this is… what I am.”

Raising an eyebrow she asked, “Do you now? Well then, why don’t you enlighten me?”

“Like you don’t know, you just want me to admit that I’m a monster.”

She clicked her tongue at his comment, “Monster is a strong word Simon-- if you are truly seeking to be done with a life of hunting perhaps you shouldn’t speak so unkindly of yourself.”

“Yeah, tell that to that boy I was about to attack,” he lamented turning his gaze to the ground, body shaking ever so slightly, bringing both his arms to grasp himself tightly. “You don’t understand Samantha… Sure, I’ve stopped now. I can say I’m done with the hunt, but my body seems to disagree and more often than not I find that pull toward bloodshed even more prevalent than before, what am I if not a monster?”

Swiftly there was a hand on his shoulder, looking up, he could see those yellow eyes so focused on him, the ones he used to find so reassuring, the ones that then became the target of his resentment. “I know you, I know what your labels mean-- null, monster. It’s how you demean, how you categorize things in your mind as evil, beyond assistance, the enemy. I know I am probably the last person you want advice from, but if you are ever going to listen to even one thing I say, let it be this-- do not make yourself your enemy. You want to move on? Then don’t set yourself up for failure, believing you are a monster is just one step away from becoming one.”

His shaking stopped as he slowed to a halt, the hand on his shoulder gripped him tighter.

“ _Mon petit garçon_ , I dread what Amelia told you, but you are not forever bound to this blood-lust-- there had been plenty of previously feral vampires who managed to recover. It is possible to move past this.”

“How?” he asked, perhaps a bit too quickly, gaze immediately on hers. “Tell me… please?”

For the first time in the entire conversation Samantha actually lowered her guard, it was only for an instant, but she seemed to relax slightly. A smile that looked more genuine than Simon was used to crossed her features.

“Of course,” Samantha nodded, her eyes looking past him to where his car was parked across the dimly lit street. “But first, perhaps we should relocate this conversation.”

He looked over to his car and then up at the building, the one he asked to meet at-- and they weren’t even going to go inside, 

He supposed it was probably better that way.

So instead he followed his ex-caretaker to the car. After they settled inside it was Samantha who was the first to speak.

“Tell me about your condition. Not all feral behavior is derived from the same source, and to learn to move past this we’ll need to examine your unique symptoms.”

He shrugged quickly listing some of the most common phenomena of his condition, “No matter how much I drink I always feel like I need more, so humans are hard to be around for obvious reasons.”

Samantha was silent for a moment before she huffed, “That’s not very specific, can you give me anything more? Is it all humans? Have you noticed any exceptions?”

“Grace,” the name came to him before he even decided if he wanted to disclose that to the other.

“Figures,” Samantha mumbled just loud enough for Simon to hear. “Well you’re a smart boy, tell me, what _is_ different about Grace?”

What was different about Grace, well, absolutely everything. Grace was the most extraordinary person he’d ever met, she had been there for him when he needed her most, he owed her his life, ten times over. He had seen every side of her, from how casually cruel she could be to those who catch her ire to how even in the face of great upheaval she held those she cared about tightly. 

He thought briefly on the remains of the Apex, how Grace continued to meet with them in an effort to do some kind of good in the world. 

When the chips were down and Grace was confronted with the results of her actions, she chose to rise up and change, despite her faults and past sins, she genuinely cared about those around her and wanted the best for them, it was downright inspiring.

Samantha just stared at him completely unamused, as Simon realized he was daydreaming. “I.. uh… she and I… she’s… I trust her.” he finally managed to squeak out.

Samantha made a very unconvincing attempt to hide her chuckles at his flustering, “Exactly-- she seems to be the only person you do trust, don’t you think that’s a problem?”

He crossed his arms at her implication, “People are often disappointing, why shouldn’t I be discerning with whom I trust?”

“Surely there is a middle ground between openly trusting anyone, and believing that a literal cult leader is the only true paragon.”

His eyebrows knitted, and he was sure that his voice was slightly more harsh, “The Apex is gone.”

“Sorry, correction then, ex-cult leader.” she responded not at all backing down.

Growling he glared at her. “What are you trying to say?”

She glared back “That maybe you’re having trouble seeing anyone except Grace as a pile of meat because that is how you’ve always seen them-- either useful soldiers in your war, or non entities. Compound that with an ingrained instinct to feed and there can be some trouble. You want to curb that instinct? Maybe you should learn to empathize with those around you better, learn to see them as actual people?”

“But I can’t if I going to attack--”

“Well, start with vampires then,” she interrupted, “I know that might be hard, seeing as I know your feelings about our kind, but if you can’t be around humans then that is the obvious answer... Do you even know any other vampires?”

He was about to tell her no until he remembered Grace told him Lindsey was turned as well.

“I suppose I have one I can talk to,” he mused.

A hand reached out to grip his shoulder again softly, “Make that two,”

Many thoughts passed through his head as he considered what she was offering. On one hand, he was not keen to put himself in a situation where he could be disappointed by this woman again. But on the other hand, if she was right and he really needed to be learning from other people, he had very limited options when it came to vampires willing to share his company.

“I… Okay… I suppose we can give this a try.” he muttered.

A large cat-like grin spread upon Samantha’s lips and Simon suddenly remembered what it was like to speak with her, to _really_ speak with her. She had dirt on literally everyone, and absolutely loved to dish drama. Despite it being furthest from his mind when he considered how this trip was going to go, he found himself hearing an all new side to many a missed mark, one that was notably much more petty and low stakes than he was used to. After almost an hour of listening to her various dramatic retellings of past escapades she finally set her attention to him.

“So tell me,” she prompted a mischievous twinkle in her eye, “When did you and Grace get together, was it before your transformation or after?”

“I… uhh… what?!” he fumbled, taken completely off guard.

Samantha frowned as she must have realized her mistake, ” _Je suis désolé._ I thought you two were...”

“No." he quickly interrupted, "… she isn’t interested in me,”

He had no idea when this turned into her grilling him about his personal life but he just wanted so desperately to not talk about it. However all it took was one look from his former caretaker to get him to spill all his beans. He had never realized how nice it was to have someone to talk to about his complicated feeling surrounding Grace-- so once he started, he found himself unable to stop, telling Samantha a detailed summary of everything that had happened between the two of them since he was changed.

She listened carefully to his story, only commenting on it once he was finished. “Simon, if you can’t tell she is interested in you after all of that, then I’m not sure if I am going to be able to change your mind.”

“You think she might like me back?” he dared to hope.

“I think you are the biggest fool I know.” she replied in a huff, “That woman stood by you while you became a vampire, the very thing she detested more than anything else. She clearly cares for you. And from what you tell me It sounds like there is a good chance that care is romantic. She literally kissed you, not sure she could have been more clear about that. It’s certainly worth asking her.” Samantha shrugged, 

Those words echoed in his mind his entire drive back home… _it's worth asking her_.

He and Samantha ended up swapping some more contact information; he decided he wasn't ready for her to become a complete staple of his life once more, but he'd be willing to meet up with her once a month to just talk. Surprisingly his talk with his ex-caretaker went well, and although he had previously dismissed the idea, he was now considering taking Lindsey up on her offer to hang out as well. 

If what he needed to do was expose himself to other people, then another ex-apex hunter turned vampire seemed like a good first attempt, she would have a lot in common with him.

A little more emboldened and confident than when he originally left, he arrived at the manor, and quickly took his leave to his room.

However once he entered he was treated to a sight he was not at all expecting.

Grace, awake and sitting on the edge of his bed idly playing a game on her phone. When she noticed his entrance, she put her phone down next to her and redirected her gaze to his, “You were out late,” looking him up and down she left out a sigh of relief, “Looks like you didn’t hurt anyone.”

Quickly waving his arms in front of him, he responded, “Ah, no, you don’t worry about that, I just… went to see Samantha.”

Her expression shifted slightly from trepidatious to concerned. “How did it go?”

He shrugged, “Actually, it went pretty well all things considering-- she was actually helpful for once.”

Smiling, Grace sat up from the bed and made her way over to him, reaching out to grab both of his hands, holding them tightly with hers

“Well, that’s good… I’m sure you’re exhausted from your trip so I’ll let you catch some sleep.”

However when she tried to pull away he grabbed slightly tighter, “I… uh… this might be a little weird to ask but… do you think you could stay the night with me? Like how we did when we were little?”

He didn’t think his partner's smile could have gotten any wider, but she proved him wrong, “You want to have a sleepover?” she nearly chuckled, “Well, how can I say no?”

And with that she said she’d be right back and ran out of the room swiftly to grab something. Simon only had to wait a couple minutes before she returned with a folded up tent box, one he remembered from all those times they went indoor camping when they were kids.

“You kept the tent?” he asked shocked as he had not seen it in years.

“Well duh, we had some good times with it, I wasn’t going to just throw it away. Now come on, I think I know the perfect spot for it.” and without another word, she grabbed the large box and hauled it out of the room, gesturing for him to follow. 

They climbed all the way to the top floor of the mansion until they reached the attic. From there, Grace opened up a sun window and climbed up to it, asking Simon to hold up the box for her while she reached down to pull it up.

After he was pulled up as well he found the tiled roof of the building was sturdy, and slanted, but Grace seemed to know where she was going, leading them towards a more central and flat location. Once they reached their destination, she sat down and patted the space next to her for him to do the same, “I caught a couple of the younger Apex up here a few months ago, a bit too dangerous for them, but I made sure to remember where it was. Sometimes, I’ll come up here to clear my head.”

And Simon could most definitely see why, from their angle, they had a magnificent view of the entire premises, the dark road pathways which lead into trees and the twinkling lights of the city all around them. It was breathtaking.

But nothing was as breathtaking as the sight right next to him.

Grace was framed by a halo of city lights, she was dressed in one of her magenta tank tops and grey sweatpants, and when she noticed that he was staring at her she beamed at him even more brightly than any of the lights she was surrounded by.

When a gust of wind passed over them causing her to scoot closer and laid her head down on his shoulder for warmth, he was sure that she could feel all of the heat moving toward his face.

“Damn its cold up here,” she spoke aloud, “We should probably set up the tent soon.”

He nodded at her suggestion. “Hey Grace?”

“Yeah?”

He opened his mouth before he shut it once more. Samantha had given him hope that perhaps Grace returned his affections, alone at the top of the manor he knew there was a really no better time to ask than now. However he found himself completely petrified. 

He knew Grace was too good for him, he understood the gap between them. While she rose from the ashes of their failures and had been moving toward creating a new better future for everyone, he was stuck, unable to even be a part of the world he once knew-- She was everything he couldn’t be, was it right to ask her for more than she was giving? Especially for one as _monstrous_ as he?

_Believing you are a monster is just one step away from becoming one_

He supposed that Samantha would disagree with his word choice. And with Grace’s gentle weight on him, it was easy to imagine she would also disagree with that assessment-- she had always been too kind to him. 

“Simon?” her voice pressed into his mind, snapping him back to the present. He turned his head slightly to look down at her, to see her gazing at him in anticipation. “What were you going to say?”

“Oh uh, sorry.” he quickly replied realizing that he had left her hanging, “I just had a question”

“Uh huh, yeah? And I just might have an answer.” she replied with a grin, “But you have to ask first.”

Well he supposed there was no backing down now. Grace had taken the lead on many a thing-- when she saw something worth fighting for she did so with everything she had, and he supposed it was his turn. Holding his breath for a moment he prepared himself for the worst.

“I know I said that you didn’t have to marry me,” he began, “and I meant it, after everything, I feel there isn’t really much of a point, and to be honest if I were to be your husband I would want to be a much better person than I am now, because that is the kind of person you deserve--”

Leaning away from him, Grace looked up with a frown and an interruption, “But--”

He did not speak over her, all he did was gently bring his hands down to hold hers, thumb running across her palm, which seemed to immediately draw her back into silence.

“Please,” he nearly begged, “Let me finish,”

When she nodded, he continued.

“I know I’m not the most emotionally intelligent person out there, so it took me a while to figure out exactly what I wanted. But after I was changed… well it just became so clear to me what the nature of my feelings were for you. I may not be ready for marriage… but… If you’ll have me, I was wondering if maybe we could go somewhere, just the two of us… l… I mean I suppose we do that a lot, but I mean in a different way… like…uhh… I’m sorry, I’m rambling” he was sure that his face was completely grey with a blush as he continued to stumble over his own words. He closed his eyes in shame and tried to gather his thoughts before blurting out. “Would you go out with me?”

Opening his eyes once more he found Grace staring right at him so intently he was worried that perhaps he had made the wrong move, that Samantha had been incorrect and she was not actually at all interested in him. He expected to be let down, to be told that he was being inappropriate, instead he was given a laugh, bright as a sonorous bell.

Grace threw her head back and continued to laugh into the night sky, it was a loud thing full of relief and solace. When she turned her gaze back to him, her eyes sparkled brighter than any of the lights behind her. “Yeah…” she agreed, bringing one of her hands up to cup his face in a familiar motion, “I would like that.”

“What?!” he asked incredulously, so convinced that she was going to reject him that he could honestly not believe she agreed. “You… you actually want me?”

She chuckled once more, leaning closer so that they were only a centimeter apart. “Does this answer your question?” she asked before closing the gap between them with no hesitancy.

Her lips were paradoxically soft and pliant as well as hard and insistent-- and he pushed back with equal measure. She chuckled into his mouth playfully before shifting so that she was sitting in his lap. 

Pulling away slightly she trailed her lips downwards, giving him slight pecks on his cheek and chin before shifting her attention to his neck. “You. Silly. Man. Why. Didn’t. You. Say. So. Earlier!” She huffed, speaking in short bursts between kisses.

“I didn’t know I— Ah~” he gasped, turning his head to the side to give her more access, “You paying me back for all my bites?” he chuckled, one of his hands coming to grip her curls.

“You call this payback?” she teased, “I’ll show you payback.” and with that she clamped her dull teeth down on the side of his throat. Hard.

The moan Simon let out in response was half pain, half pleasure, and he was sure he was going to have one hell of a bruise afterwards. Grace however did not seem to care, as she continued to bite and suck at the surrounding area.

“Please~” he begged.

Chuckling she finally made her way back to his eye level, lips purposefully hovering just a little bit too far from his. “Please what?” she asked, her tone even.

“Kiss me.” he responded as more of a moan than a phrase.

Her lips were on his as soon as the words left his mouth, and she was as insistent as ever. Coaxing him, she brought his bottom lip between her teeth and nibbled gently.

Eye rolling back he couldn't help but open his mouth to give her more access. He didn't know where she'd learned to kiss like that, but considering he was relatively inexperienced, he was grateful for her initiative. 

They fell into a rhythm easily as she guided him to the tile, throwing one leg over so that she was pinning him to the roof, while her tongue dove into his mouth--awakening something deeply needy in him.

Then her tongue brushed up against one of his sharper fangs, and he was sure he tasted the blood before she even realized she was injured.

Arms coiling around her, he forced himself into a sitting position, carrying Grace with him, until she was in seated on his lap. Having broken out of the kiss, she looked a bit astonished to see his lips reddened.

Oh her blood was as delicious as ever, but he had not intended to cause her any injury, so without even realizing how easy it was for him to do so, he stayed his ground and did not ache for more. He would just have to be content with the few drops he got.

Panting, he let his tongue dart out to catch the blood still smudged on his lips, groaning at the taste of Grace.

His partner just stared at him while he did so, and it did not escape his notice how her eyes dilated when seeing him lick his lips. He supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised that despite knowing there was a cut on her tongue, she pressed back into him for more.

Gladly accepting more of both her affection and blood, Simon did not hesitate to kiss her back. Hands falling down her waist tracing her plentiful curves.

When she finally pulled back, it was clearly to catch her breath, however she also did so just in time for another brisk and instance gust of wind which blew over them causing Grace to shiver.

Simon smiled before directing his eyes over to the original reason they came up here in the first place.

“We should probably set up the tent, don’t want you to catch a cold.”

She pouted at his suggestion, eyes still half lidded from their make out session. “I suppose you’re right.” she admitted before standing to her feet and moving to begin the set up. “But next time you won’t get away so easily,” she remarked playfully.

“I’ll look forward to it,” he grinned at her as they both continued to set up the tent.

The roof wasn’t exactly the most comfortable of places but after laying down the tent pads and sleeping bags Simon supposed it would do. Sitting down in the tent, he almost yelped when Grace threw her arms around him knocking towards the floor.

Laughing he let himself fall down, his curly haired partner laying atop him smiling down.

“Goodnight Simon.”

“Goodnight Grace.”

And while neither of them slept much for the rest of the night, it was still most certainly a good one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update, I just hit a small block when writing. 
> 
> Again I wrote a chapter that was too long and needed to be split, so fic is now 8 chapters long, oops. but now I'll definitely include the epilogue in the 8th chapter since there is going to be one anyway.
> 
> Please leave a comment if you can, I thoroughly enjoy reading through them :)


	8. One Week Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon and Grace adjust to their new lives, and are finally ready to move forward.

* * *

_One Week Later_

* * *

The cafe was closed, well of course it was, otherwise Simon wouldn’t have agreed to meet there. 

In all the years Lindsay had served under him, he had never known that her family owned a small cafe in a nearby town. Not too surprising, he had never really concerned himself with the lives of his subordinates before. 

Holding his breath he pushed open the door. 

A small bell tied to the door-frame chimed at his entrance. At the sound, a familiar face poked her head out from the back room behind the counter. 

“Lt. General Laurent!” Lindsay called to him with a smile, emerging from the back dressed in a t-shirt, jeans, and a long red apron. 

He inwardly flinched. Grace always encouraged her soldiers to refer to her casually by her name. But when Simon was alone with his troops, he had usually insisted they call him by his rank. Now hearing his title called back to him left him feeling a tad guilty. 

“Simon is fine,” he responded with a forced smile. 

She nodded in confirmation, before gesturing him to sit at one of the many available tables. “Make yourself comfortable, I’ll be right with you.” And with that she disappeared back into the room behind the counter. 

Choosing a seat at the far end of the cafe, he sat and waited. Not too long after, Lindsay emerged with a small tray containing a couple drinks and small bowls. 

Simon could almost immediately smell the blood. When the tray was set down in front of him, his suspicions were confirmed. The drink contained a dark reddish brown liquid swirling with white creamer and the small bowl seemed to have some sort of red thickened substance. 

“You’re lucky I recently perfected both of these, been working on them for a while.” Lindsey announced putting one of the bowls and drinks in front of him while the other in-front of her. “This is a blood latte and some blood pudding.”

His expression must have looked very judgy as after a moment of silence, Lindsey spoke up once more. 

“The blood is ethically sourced” She reassured him before picking up her latte and taking a swig.

He looked down into the swirling liquid, “I thought vampires couldn't eat anything except for blood?”

“For the most part we can’t” she replied, “But don’t worry, I’ve tested this concoction many times-- from my experience I’ve been able to imbibe other fluids as long as they are mixed with at least as much blood.”

Hesitantly he picked up his cup and took a sip. 

The liquid was much more creamy and sweet then blood usually was with a hint of underlying bitterness. Many emotions welled up in his throat; he had almost forgotten the taste of coffee, of anything else aside from blood. Having the heaviness of it cling to his tongue reminded him so vividly of what he lost, but it was almost reassuring in its own way.

“When I was first turned, I was convinced I would never be able to live a normal life again, never be able to enjoy a cup of coffee.” Lindsey started after taking another sip. “But then I realized that just because things are different, doesn't mean that I have to give up everything-- I just have to be a bit more creative.”

Simon gave a shrug. He understood what Lindsey was trying to do; but he doubted ‘creativity’ would really be the solution to his problems

“I suppose,” he spoke halfheartedly

When he saw her face fall a little, he inwardly chastised himself at his dismissiveness. Lindsey was opening up to him, she was making an attempt to help. And If he was trying to be more receptive to the emotions of others it wasn’t right to write her off so quickly.

“I mean…” he continued in an attempt to explain himself before deciding to just come clean, “I’m sorry… I’m just... having a rough time adjusting.”

“Yeah, Grace told me a little, it must have been difficult the first couple weeks.”

“...It was.” he replied softly, his hand gripping the mug just a little too hard, and from the way his ex-subordinate tilted her head down, he was sure it did not escape her notice.

“Well, you’re always welcome to come hang with me if being around humans becomes too much, it would be nice to have another taste tester for all the new recipes I want to try.” she replied clearly trying to lighten the mood.

Simon cautiously met her gaze before averting his eyes back to his drink, “...really? I wouldn’t want to be a burden.”

“Yeah, of course, It’s actually nice to know there is another vampire I can talk to, Alex and Todd have been super great and really supportive, but it’s splendid to be around someone who has been through something similar.”

The warmth that built in his chest at those words was unexpected but not unpleasant, “I…” he started, trailing off slightly before centering his thoughts, “Okay, that actually sounds… nice.”

Her mouth curved into a more prominent smile, as he quickly brought the mug back up to his lips to hide the dark blush on his face. It was certainly embarrassing to be comforted by one of his previous soldiers, Lindsey was younger than he by a few years, but in that moment he became increasingly aware of how much more mature and well adjusted she was when compared to him, and it caused him to feel all the more self-conscious. 

He supposed there was much he could learn from her.

Several hours passed, just him and Lindsey talking about a variety of topics. She shared with him the story of her transformation, and he did the same. And when she described the feeling of absolute horror upon awakening to her new vampiric life, it almost hurt Simon listening to how scared and disgusted she had been, just as he was.

Before long, he found himself in the back of the cafe with her preparing another one of her recipes-- a blood pie. The result was rough and could definitely use some more improvements, but the process of making it, of sharing a simple experience with someone he was starting to consider a friend was the real treat.

When he left the cafe, he did so with a recipe for blood lattes and plan to meet up again next week. 

They had a pie to prefect, of course, and for maybe the first time in a decade, he was actually excited to be spending time with another person other than Grace. 

* * *

_One Week Later_

* * *

It had been a long time since she had last been here, more than a decade at least. She very carefully chose to visit in the middle of the typical work week in hopes that she would be alone, and luckily her predictions proved correct.

When she made it up to the twin graves, she clutched the flowers she brought tightly.

“Hey mom, hey dad,” she spoke, “Not sure you’d recognize me after I’ve been away for so long, but I thought I’d at least come see you now.”

Kneeling down she contemplated saying a prayer, she was never much of a religious type, but she wasn't sure exactly what else to do, so closing her eyes she whispered a short invocation.

“May you rest well, and find peace wherever you are.”

The wind rustled the trees around the graveyard and the curly haired woman opened her eyes. Standing in front of her parents grave she noticed how barren the ground beneath them was, no flowers or presents, unlike almost all the other graves around her. Of course that wasn’t super surprising, she doubted any of her extended family would have bothered to visit, and she had most certainly not paid her respects for years. 

After their deaths she refused to come and visit. Due to her mother turning, Grace wanted nothing to do with her, nor where the rest of her extended family buried her empty coffin. 

But now she knew better, she knew her mother wasn’t the enemy, or a monster, or any of the other hurtful phrases she had previously called other vampires. Her mother was just another victim, someone who just needed help.

Grace wanted to be mad at Amelia for what she did, for slaying the one of the only people she cared about-- but she couldn’t, not after everything she had done. Amelia had taken away her mother, but Grace was sure she had done the same to countless others-- going after the ex-hunter now would solve nothing. 

What she needed to do was move on.

Taking a deep breath she gently set down the calla lilies she had brought with her. She may have not visited in a while, but she hopped that if her parents were watching her now, they’d at least appreciate her bringing them her mother's favorite flower.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you both... turns out I’m pretty bad at protecting anyone.” she spoke, breath hitching midway through her statement.

The wind continued to rustle, and Grace could have sworn that it must have been sprinkling as she felt a sudden wetness on her cheek. However when she looked up at the sky she found it clear and cloudless. Biting her bottom lip to prevent a loud sob from escaping her chest, she turned her attention back to her parents.

“But… that isn’t me anymore, and I want… I need to be different.”

And she meant it, she had already begun to fund Amelia’s various centers and shelters, and with the rest of the ex-Apex members, she had come up with a plan to form a new organization of their own-- one of tolerance and support.

Since Samantha had contacted Simon, Grace had also spoken occasionally to the vampiress-- who seemed to be incredibly informed of the goings-on of the local vampire community. 

Of course Grace herself was still a bit too notorious with the local community to be trusted with aid, but through Samantha she set up various other vampire contacts with some of her less infamous members and so far communication had been going well.

She had even recently received word that there were a couple younger vamps who were newly turned and looking for resources outside of Amelia’s perimeter. She had sent Alex, Lindsey, and Todd to go meet with the two of them and it couldn’t have been more of a success.

It even looked as if they were going to have their first vampire new recruits.

“Things are looking up,” she spoke again to the graves, “I just wish you were here to see it… I miss you.”

The graves did not respond, of course, but Grace felt a certain warmth in finally saying those words out loud. 

Admitting to missing them was a weakness she had never before been willing to speak aloud. At the height of her career as a professional vampire hunter, she probably would have not admitted just how much she cared about those around her. She had to, getting attached to her hunters, her students, was a recipe for disaster when they eventually got maimed, or killed, or left her…

She had a lot to make up for, a lot of bridges she irreparably burned. A lot of lives she ruined and people she could never get back. 

The remains of the Apex still looked up to her as a leader, a friend, a comrade-- and for as many people as she had let down in her life, she was going to do her utmost to not repeat those mistakes.

“I…” she began before reaching out to touch the cold stone of her mother's grave, this time she was unable to hold back a sob. “I’m so sorry mom, I’ll do right by you… I promise. I swear I will stop anything like this from happening again.”

It only took her a couple minutes to calm her tears, and only a couple minutes after that she turned and left the graveyard on the hill, her thoughts moving away from those she had lost and onto those she still had left: those who were willing to be a part of her life. 

She was lucky, and she knew that. Lucky enough to have a second chance, lucky enough to be given the opportunity to atone.

And she was not about to let her community down.

* * *

_One Week Later_

* * *

“Where are we even going?” Simon huffed while struggling to keep up with his curly haired partner.

“Don’t worry, it isn’t much farther,” Grace responded over her shoulder as she jumped and gripped the edge of a large rock, pulling herself atop it before turning around and offering her hand to the blonde. “Don’t tell me you’re tired already, what’s all that enhanced vampire endurance good for if not a long hike?”

He chucked before grabbing her hand and pulling himself to where she was.

“You’ve always been better at this kinda stuff then me,” he replied simply, “Not sure even vampirism could change that.”

She joined in on his laughter before gesturing to him to follow.

It wasn’t long before the thick trees gave way to a large ravine, a single knocked over tree bridging the gap. Not even bothering to hesitate, Grace jumped atop it, arms out for balance and began to cross.

“See, isn’t this a nice change of pace.” she called back to him, and as he observed the soft rustling of the trees above him and the various colors of all the leaves down in the ravine he had to agree.

It was Grace who suggested they try and get out of the house more, as aside from his weekly trips to Lindsey’s cafe he rarely even ventured out of his room. He was cautious, of course he was, he had hurt so many people in his life and he was in no hurry to continue that trend. Humans were everywhere and there was no point in risking their safety just so he could see the sights.

Of course Grace had a solution to that, she always seemed to, and this time it took the form of suggesting a hiking trip through the nearby national forest. She had gone and scoped out long forgotten trails and other such areas that were cut off from the public, in order to reduce any potential humans they could run into.

“Yeah, it is,” he responded in awe as they walked across the ravine. He could see all the leaves rustling beneath him from the wind, while the occasional squirrel and lizard darted out from the foliage. While it was true that he was never really into hiking previously, anything was a better change of pace from his room, and it was nice to be outside without threat of him harming anyone.

“Uh oh,” Grace teased, jumping to the other side with a small hop after reaching the end of their makeshift bridge and turning around to grin at him. “That sounded dangerously like you actually enjoying yourself,” 

He sputtered at the accusation before making it over to the other side as well, “yeah, well, is that a crime? Enjoying a sunny day with my girlfriend?”

Grace’s grin doubled in both size and mischievousness, as she took a step forward and ran her hand up and down his chest in an exaggerated flirty gesture, “Girlfriend, huh? She must be a lucky woman.”

Simon raised an eyebrow before laughing and playing along, “Oh on the contrary, I’m the lucky one, she is smart and brave and stronger than anyone else I know.” 

Grace chuckled before pressing her chest against his, and leaning upwards so they were mere centimeters apart. “She sounds like quite the keeper.”

She felt a soft rumble echo in the blonde’s chest as he nearly purred at her statement, “she is,” he said simply before pressing their lips together in a short but lingering kiss.

It was Grace who first pulled away, gesturing to her partner to continue following her.

After much more bantering and an hour of hiking later, they finally reached their destination.

It was a small rock outcropping which Grace helped Simon up onto, and from there, they could see almost the whole of the mountainous forest they meticulously climbed beneath them.

Grace had to resit laughing at the amazed look on the blonde’s face as his red gaze drank up the sight in front of him. Of course it hadn't passed her attention how much Simon seemed to enjoy views since he had changed-- must have been something new about his eyesight. She remembered how taken he had been when watching the night sky on the first day of his change, or even from the view from atop the manor not too long ago, Grace knew he’d appreciate the scenery.

As he settled down next to her, eyes scanning over the landscape, she let out a content hum and laid her head down on his shoulder.

“You like the view?” She asked already knowing his response.

“Yeah… thanks, for bringing me up here.” He nodded almost instantly, before pausing for a second. “You know, for as hard as it’s been adjusting to my… condition, I have to admit that I can’t beat the sights.”

Grace pulled away from him, her mouth agape in incredulity. 

“What?” the blonde asked, when he noticed her response.

“Do my ears deceive me?” the curly haired woman asked before her lips quirked upwards, “Simon Laurent, admitting there is something positive to his vampirism.”

He flustered, like he always did, before she silenced him with a gentle hand gripping his and a smile so genuine it stopped him mid-stutter.

“I’m glad,” she clarified, “It’s good to hear you say something nice about yourself.”

He turned his gaze away from her, while a black blush made its way to his cheeks, and she couldn’t help but to giggle.

The road to Simon being ok with himself was a long one, and she knew that better than most. But seeing him try filled her with such determination that she was sure that one day she too could feel at home with herself.

“Hey Grace,”

She turned back to her partner with a smile. “Yeah?”

“Thank you… and… I, have something I need to tell you… I…I... ” but before he could continue, she brought her finger up to his lips gently leading him into silence. She laid her forehead tenderly against his before speaking up herself.

“I love you too.”

When he pressed forward for another kiss, she gratefully accepted. With the push of his soft lips to hers and the sound of nature all around them, she let herself melt into him.

It was a process and they both still had a lot to learn and a long way to go, but knowing she wasn’t alone, made it all the more easier to move forwards. 

And for the first time in a long time, Grace was ready to move forward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My goodness this is finally done. Sorry this final chapter took so long, there was a bit of a family emergency on my end, but it's all resolved now.
> 
> Thank you all who kept with me and wrote comments on every chapter, you are all superstars and I hope that the finale was to your liking :)
> 
> Please let me know what you thought of the whole fic now that it's complete, what did you like most? What could have been done better? I'd love to hear from you all one last time.


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